According to the 2000 census, by 2025 what are currently considered minority populations are predicted to be 40 percent of the U.S. population. By 2050, more than half of Americans are expected to be members of current minorities. In contrast, a recent survey of AIGA members finds that of graphic designers who responded, two percent are black, four percent Hispanic/Latino, six percent Asian/Pacific Islander and two percent other. The design profession is still overwhelmingly homogenous in its racial composition.

AIGA has launched a national initiative on diversity to actively include designers of diverse ethnic backgrounds in the organization and profession. A nationwide task force chaired by José Nieto (square zero: a design studio, Salem, MA) and Bill Grant (Grant Design Collaborative, Canton, GA) is focusing on defining diversity within AIGA; bringing diverse voices to the AIGA speaker roster; reaching out to students outside traditional art schools; creating an online archive and exhibition of design pioneers of color; and developing a catalog of best practices for chapters reaching new audiences.

If we don’t actively seek to reflect the changing racial and ethnic composition of our society, the design profession may well find itself marginalized in a whole new way. Diversity, especially race, is an issue that all designers need to be concerned with in terms of the future of the profession.

If the profession as a whole cannot communicate to the diversity of languages and cultures that comprise the nation’s population, how can it be considered an effective and critical agent in the economy? In speaking across the country on this issue, former AIGA president Bill Grant says it succinctly: “Diversity is critical if the design profession wants to remain relevant to business and society.”