WE SHOULD WORK TO RECOGNIZE THE WOMEN DESIGNERS WHO NEVER GOT THEIR DUE
1. WITH HER FRIEND MARIA BIRD, LINGSTROM CO-CREATED LEGENDARY CHILDREN'S SHOWS ANDY PANDY AND THE FLOWER POT MEN.
BY RUTH SYKES In the UK, the latest government statistics report that only 29 percent of graphic designers are women; meanwhile, many of those in senior design positions who are considered leaders in the field tend to be men. Yet for decades the number of female graphic design students in higher education has been similar to male—and today, women make up 60 percent of graphic design students. (This proportion stays the same when international students, who are less likely to work long-term in the UK, are taken out of the figures.) This contrast between students and professionals is concerning. There aren’t enough jobs for all who train for one, and who gets and keeps them should be decided by ability, not gender. So what action can graphic design education take to equip students to deal with gender disparity in the profession? For one, the curriculum can feature more graphic design by women, to demonstrate that innovative and valuable graphic design can be generated by any gender. Educators can explain the historical processes in the development of the profession and its historical documentation that leave women’s work less likely to be celebrated. This can be done in both a creative and critical way, as graphic communication design students at Central Saint Martins, where I am an educator, recently demonstrated. In December 2017, a group of students, from first year undergraduates to final year masters, both male and female, made an exhibition related to gender disparity in graphic design. Supported by me and Sarah Campbell, curator of the Central Saint Martins Museum & Study Collection, the students made new work in response to graphic design pieces displayed in the museum by eight female alumni and staff of the college. As the students weren’t previously familiar with the women whose work they responded to, even though much of their graphic styles seemed familiar, they named their exhibition “I Don’t Know Her Name, But I Know Her Work.” The female designers they chose had careers making graphic design for important clients, competing against designers such as Edward Bawden, Abram Games, and Barnett Freedman—men who are far better remembered today than are their female peers. They include Freda Lingstrom, who started her own graphic design business in the 1920s with British and Scandinavian clients, and became head of BBC children’s television in 1951 1. Another is Dora Batty, who worked for the
Design History Isn’t Repeating Itself— So Why Is the Way We Teach It?
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