Mar 27, 2023

Book Club: Extra Bold with Ellen Lupton & Kaleena Sales

Ellen Lupton, Kaleena Sales

About this video

Description

Recap

The RGD's Virtual Book Club convened its second meeting in March, which highlighted the book of the month, Extra Bold: A Feminist, Inclusive, Anti-Racist, Non-Binary Field Guide for Graphic Designers. Notably, our esteemed guest speakers and featured co-authors, Ellen Lupton and Kaleena Sales, joined us for this discussion. Throughout the author's chat and breakout rooms, there were lots of discussions about how the book did not center on the male/female binary, but also considered intersectionalities such as race and ability. Kaleena also highlighted how the section on Confidence Equity spoke to her, especially about the connection between positionality, power and social responsibility. Our members wrapped up the meeting by responding to the different historical narratives presented in the book and the beautiful thought-provoking illustrations by Jennifer Tobias. They agreed that the discussion questions challenged them to think critically about their role in the deconstruction of systematic bias and binary thinking while also considering their role for advocating for accessibility, diversity, equity and inclusion.

Ellen Lupton

Ellen is a writer, curator, educator, and designer. Ellen is the Betty Cooke and William O. Steinmetz Design Chair at MICA (Maryland Institute College of Art) in Baltimore. She is Curator Emerita at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in New York City.

Kaleena Sales

Kaleena is an Associate Professor of Graphic Design and Chair of the Department of Art & Design at Tennessee State University, an HBCU (Historically Black College or University) in Nashville, Tennessee. She is a coauthor of Extra Bold: A Feminist, Inclusive, Anti-Racist, Non-Binary Field Guide for Graphic Designers, and co-hosts a podcast about design and culture. During her service on AIGA’s Design Educators Community Steering Committee, Kaleena advocated for a more inclusive view of design history, through her Beyond the Bauhaus writing series, inspiring a new book, to be released in October by Princeton Architectural Press. Kaleena is also an accomplished illustrator, with work featured in Communication Arts 2021 Illustration Annual.