Celebrating women in the design industry

Their work crosses disciplines and breaks boundaries, and looking at the incredible women here, it seems hard to believe that the design industry still lacks diversity.

According to a recent report from the Design Council, I was astonished to discover that 78 percent of the design economy is male. To put that into perspective, this is higher than the UK workforce, which is 53 percent male. However, the rate of women studying creative arts and design is increasing and I want to talk about some that have already done some amazing work. 

First up we have Malika Favre, a London based French artist, whose work has made her one of the most sought-after illustrators in the country. Malika’s work really speaks for itself, with a pop art style, she has landed her work with The Yorker, BAFTA, and many more. Secondly, we have Es Devlin, a set design mastermind. If you’ve seen live music performances from some of the biggest artists over the years, chances are you’ve seen the amazing work of Devlin. She has worked with the likes of Kanye West, Beyonce, and many more to create astonishing backdrops and stage sculptures. Es doesn’t stop there, she has also created an impressive portfolio, including stage sculptures from the London Olympics ceremonies. 

Another super impressive female would be Rachel Inman. Rachel is a design lead at Google, on the Google Maps team. She has worked on the new Google Earth, which includes an update that enables users to fly through landmarks and major cities in 3D. Inman was the team leader on this project and she only recently moved into the wed industry, as she was motivated by the desire to create things that would make life better for others, which I find truly inspiring. Next, we have another web designer, based in New York, Catt Small takes in some of the biggest names in web design. After getting her graphic design degree, she became SoundCloud’s first product designer. Catt has also played a big part in promoting diversity within the web industry, co-founding Code Liberation and working with Good for PoC.

Lastly, we have Debbie Millman. Best known by designers as a founder and host of the podcast ‘Design Matters’. Milliman is also a designer, artist, curator, educator, and writer, and in 2009 she co-founded the world’s first graduate programme in branding at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. Meanwhile her illustrations have appeared in The New York Times and New York Magazine, among others.

Debbie is just one of many incredibly inspirational women in the design industry that I feel lucky to have to look up to. However, in the future I hope to see more diversity within the design industry, and I hope these women will give other young females like me the inspiration they need to break boundaries and go above and beyond to make their mark.