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Graphic design is much more than finding the right colors and fonts for a t-shirt. It’s about communicating a message. It’s storytelling through typography, photography and illustration. Talented Native designers are using their skills and traditional knowledge to get the message across for tribes, businesses and non-profits. We’ll hear about the intricacies of telling Native stories through graphic design.
Guests:
Neebinnaukzhik Southall (member of the Chippewas of Rama First Nation) – graphic designer, artist, writer and photographer
Sadie Red Wing (enrolled in the Spirit Lake Dakota Nation) – graphic designer
Ryan Red Corn (Osage) – co-owner of Buffalo Nickel Creative
Break 1 Music: Big Alligator (song) Jim Billie (artist) Native Son (album)
Break 2 Music: Lolo Said (song) John-Carlos Perea (artist) Creation Story (album)
A great show today about graphic design. I was very excited to tune in and hear about the graphic designers within the Native American Community. There were many valid points raised and discussed by different professional designers.
I’m a graphic designer from the UK. I’ve worked as a Creative Director in London and Paris. I graduated from Central Saint Martins with a Masters Degree in Graphic Design. I now work from a remote location in Somerset, my studio is in a Shepherd’s Hut.
I would like to give some of my advice for anyone listening and to all those people wanting to become a graphic designer in their future. Albert Einstein quoted ‘Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution”. After 25 years as a graphic designer I keep coming back to this quote and it still inspires me today. Do not become digitally obsessed reaching the end goal of a graphic design brief. A computer is only a tool. The Native American Culture is hugely influential in the graphic arts, please do not change and become homogenized like the rest of the graphic design world. Keep inspiring others with what you do. Keep the imagination flowing.
Best wishes, Grant.
Yes! Ryan speaks the truth!
Darkness fleas from light. Stop showing hurt, shart showing healing. Show health, strength, and resilience in the imagery that surrounds Native communities.
We know what’s wrong. Show folks what’s right about the community. We can be culture bearers of hope.
Darkness *flees from light.