Let\u2019s take a look at these artists with a conscience.<\/p>\n
John Lee for \u2018A Story about Chinese Americans\u2019<\/h2>\n
Some designers and illustrators excel at telling stories about people. John Lee<\/strong><\/a> wanted to do exactly that in the case of Chinese Americans and their role in the Civil Rights Movement. Not many are aware of the fact that how Chinese immigrants have tried to acclimatize with American society since the days of Martin Luther King. A truly symbolic and educative pieces of illustrations chronicling the journey of Chinese American citizens in one of the most socially transformative phrases of modern America.<\/p>\n Discrimination can also be on the basis of religious beliefs. According to Guy Seese<\/strong><\/a> and Corianton Hale<\/strong><\/a>, a 2 man design team from Seattle, the passage of religious freedom laws in Indiana and more states represents a form of legalized discrimination. In order to illustrate their point, they have designed a whole campaign #WrongToRefuse to highlight the fact about what it means to be an American citizen enjoying equal rights and liberty.<\/p>\n Sometimes even sports teams go with a logo that portrays an ethnic group as a stereotype. The Cleveland Indians logo features a cartoonish caricature of a Native Red Indian. Kade O\u2019Connor<\/strong><\/a> from Durham saw how racist and offensive that logo would be perceived to be. He researched the history, was even a huge Indians fan as a kid growing up in Cleveland. But then he thought about how wrong he was about the team mascot Wahoo, and why that logo needed to go. In order to highlight this issue, Kade decided to turn the logo into a social message. It\u2019s his hope that people around Cleveland understand what\u2019s going wrong here.<\/p>\n Staying on the theme of racism when it comes to sports logos, Stephen Tompkins<\/strong><\/a> came up with his own unique interpretation of how the Red Indians logo should look like. The Lakewood-based graffiti artist reimagines the logo in street art graffiti form, leaving only the outline from the original logo intact while changing everything else about it. It\u2019s a reminder of how some things are so much in bad taste as they exist.<\/p>\n Daniel Townsend<\/strong><\/a> is a graphics artist based in Pooler, GA. This American artist wanted to highlight how racism still continues to exist and fester in all walks of life in America. His short video explaining the extent of racism in modern-day America serves as a wakeup call to policy makers and society alike.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not everyday you see a work of fine art that captures the essence of racism quite well. But that is exactly what happens in Dianna Nicholette<\/strong><\/a> does here. The Honolulu based designer tries to capture apartheid, racism, war and other disparate elements in her canvas with the artful use of melancholic colors and line work in Trouble City.<\/p>\n For Arabic, Somali, Bosnian and other Islamic minorities residing in St. Louis, Yumna Ali<\/strong><\/a> came up with these posters so that they can come visit the Council on American\u2013Islamic Relations (CAIR) community centres to seek help with their problems. The posters proved so popular that CAIR decided to use them countrywide in an effort to raise awareness about Muslim rights in modern day America. In a landscape where racial and religious intolerance is at an all-time high, Yumna\u2019s work has proved instrumental in letting Muslim seek professional help with a renowned religious, cultural and community-building organization.<\/p>\n Sometimes the most powerful messages are those that can be derived from history. Eddie Kihm<\/strong><\/a> combines Nazi Germany symbolism with modern day white supremacists in his illustration, making for a potent commentary on how racism still exists in contemporary America and how people might take it as a \u2018cool\u2019 thing. One needs not look too deeply in his illustration titled \u2018Hipster Racism\u2019 to grasp the central idea of his piece.<\/p>\n Immigration reform has become a hot-button political issue, with some of the most xenophobic politicians vowing to keep people out of America since \u2018they are stealing our jobs.\u2019 Not to be outdone by the racism-laced messaging on part of public representatives, Courtney Vitale<\/strong><\/a> wants to set the record straight through her typographic creations. The Philadelphia-based designer wants to put an end to prejudice against other cultures in her own way, culminating in a project \u2018End Discrimination.\u2019<\/p>\n Nothing makes a visceral and profound impact in the American public consciousness like street art. Ryan Dix<\/strong><\/a> had exactly the same idea with his racially-motivated creation titled Perspective, a fine arts project. This project took inspiration from retro-looking American advertising design in the 70s. If one looks closer at his creation, a mental image begins to form inside the viewer\u2019s head about how far America has come along when it comes to racial, gender and other pertinent social issues of the day.<\/p>\n Digital art can be rich in symbolism if the artist behind it has an excellent grasp about a multitude of historical and social issues. Nate James<\/strong><\/a> from Toledo, Ohio, weaves and evokes a particularly powerful imagery about how America came into being. Using themes of usurpation and discrimination against the indigenous Red Indian tribe, this piece makes no bones about history. Though Nate\u2019s piece was meant as a tribute to the victims of the Japanese tsunami, the depiction of Red Indians vs. the original colonists in America is sure to stir up debate about why nations need to remember the genesis of their creation.<\/p>\n Joseph Conrad\u2019s \u2018The Heart of Darkness \u2018 remains a literary masterpiece to this day, mostly due to its depiction of the vileness of human nature. Portland-based Maggie<\/strong><\/a> wanted to translate and portray this complex emotion visually to a new generation of fans who might not be familiar with Conrad\u2019s work. The end result? An artistic ode to a literary classic that captures the central idea of the book concerning man\u2019s inhumanity to man.<\/p>\n Daniel FIshel<\/strong><\/a> wanted to do an illustration that could accurately capture the following idea – How do you, as a African-American teacher of history, teach in the racially intolerant region of South? Daniel\u2019s task was one of immense responsibility, especially keeping in mind the social and racial implications of an illustration that would be published in the Teaching Tolerance Magazine nationwide. Suffice to say, the end result more than captured the fears, the unknown, the huge responsibility that African-American teachers would face in their classrooms down south.<\/p>\n Sometimes pop culture has the audacity to throw up uncomfortable imagery at the unsuspecting public. Miley Cyrus\u2019 Wrecking Ball music video is one such example due to its use of black female body. Sarula Bao<\/strong><\/a> wanted to highlight this issue, and she turned to art to make her point known. The Wrecking Ball illustration by Ms. Bao succeeds in portraying the racist undertones present in the music video, the underlying message being that Hollywood needs to be more sensitive to the plight of its racially-diverse polity.<\/p>\n Design can be an effective catalyst for change and positive change at that. America is going through a lot of changes recently and designers will always throw an interesting light on how social, political, religious issues continue to affect ordinary Americans day in and out. Human creativity, after all, knows no limits and graphic design is a way to reflect that. Fourth of July<\/strong><\/a> has also proven to be a designer\u2019s mecca amongst many other events and occasions. Can design change the world for the better? You decide.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Think designers in America are not pushing the envelope when it comes to highlighting and affecting positive change as far as racism is concerned? We showcase some of these designers who believe in social design \u2013 helping bring about wide-scale … Continue reading ![\"John](\"https:\/\/www.designmantic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/John-Lee.jpg\" "\\"John")
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\nSource: Behance\/John Lee<\/a><\/p>\nGuy Seese and Corianton Hale for #WrongToRefuse<\/h2>\n
Kade O\u2019Connor for Cleveland Red Indians logo change<\/h2>\n
![\"Kade](\"https:\/\/www.designmantic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Kade-O-Connor.jpg\" "\\"Kade")
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\nSource: Behance\/Kade<\/a><\/p>\nBonus Mention: Stephen Tompkins for Wahoo Variation<\/h2>\n
![\"Stephen](\"https:\/\/www.designmantic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Stephen-Tompkins.jpg\" "\\"Stephen")
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\nSource: Behance\/Stephen Tompkins<\/a><\/p>\nDaniel Townsend for Racism – A Motion Graphics project<\/h2>\n
![\"Daniel](\"https:\/\/www.designmantic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Daniel-Townsend.jpg\" "\\"Daniel")
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\nSource: Behance\/Daniel Townsend<\/a><\/p>\nDianna Nicholette for Trouble City<\/h2>\n
![\"Dianna](\"https:\/\/www.designmantic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Dianna-Nicholette.jpg\" "\\"Dianna")
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\nSource: Behance\/Diana Nicholette Jeon<\/a><\/p>\nYumna Ali for CAIR Discrimination Poster<\/h2>\n
![\"Yumna](\"https:\/\/www.designmantic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Yumna-Ali.jpg\" "\\"Yumna")
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\nSource: Behance\/Yumna Ali<\/a><\/p>\nEddie Kihm for Hipster Racism<\/h2>\n
![\"Eddie](\"https:\/\/www.designmantic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Eddie-Kihm.jpg\" "\\"Eddie")
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\nSource: Behance\/Eddie Kihm<\/a><\/p>\nCourtney Vitale for End Discrimination Poster<\/h2>\n
Ryan Dix for Perspective<\/h2>\n
![\"Ryan](\"https:\/\/www.designmantic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Ryan-Dix.jpg\" "\\"Ryan")
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\nSource: Behance\/Ryan Dix<\/a><\/p>\nNate James for The Rising Sun<\/h2>\n
![\"Nate](\"https:\/\/www.designmantic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Nate-James.jpg\" "\\"Nate")
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\nSource: Behance\/Nate James<\/p>\nMaggie Wauklyn for The Heart of Darkness<\/h2>\n
![\"Maggie\"](\"https:\/\/www.designmantic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Maggie-Wauklyn.jpg\" "\\"Maggie\\"")
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\nSource: Behance\/Maggie Wauklyn<\/a><\/p>\nDaniel Fishel for Teaching Racial Inequality<\/h2>\n
![\"Daniel](\"https:\/\/www.designmantic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Daniel-FIshel.jpg\" "\\"Daniel")
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\nSource: Behance\/Daniel FIshel<\/a><\/p>\nSarula Bao for Wrecking Ball<\/h2>\n
![\"Sarula](\"https:\/\/www.designmantic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Sarula-Bao.jpg\" "\\"Sarula")
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\nSource: Behance\/Sarula Bao<\/a><\/p>\nDesign \u2013 A Harbinger of Change?<\/h2>\n