Stretching our Attention
Where is our attention? Collage by D.J. Trischler.
June was the first time in a long time that I didn’t publish content on my website. That’s because I wasn’t convinced that what I might say was necessary, particularly in light of what needed to be spoken by my Black brothers and sisters in the design profession and beyond.
There’s so much that I don’t know. At times that can be overwhelming, at times it can be exciting. These days, I’m spending a lot more time listening, especially as I prepare a fall lecture course called Welcome to Design. How do I encourage enthusiasm for design studies and practice? How do I welcome each student to their design education and the design profession no matter their gender, race, or sexual orientation? How do I move beyond telling stories of white “design visionaries”? How do I shape a collaborative learning community centered on the possibilities of design and it’s many pathways when the world is changing every day? These are some of the questions occupying my attention lately.
Attention is an important word to examine at this moment. Are we listening when the people cry, “Pay attention to Black lives!”? Are we listening when George Floyd says, “I can’t breathe!”?
Attention means “to stretch” if we look back at its roots. Perhaps, it’s in our human tendency not to stretch ourselves too much? It’s far easier to look at things that seem familiar. But what’s lost when our attention is too narrow? Human life?
Unfortunately / fortunately, designers do a terrific job at drawing attention. That’s mostly the job of a brand identity designer (which is a role I’ve often played). How can I design something that will grab your attention on the shelf, in the social media universe, or at a conference? Attention is a currency and whoever has your attention, has power. Put another way: “where your attention is, your heart will be.” (Paraphrasing The Carpenter).
Designers have been impacting people’s attention for decades. For instance, Emory Douglas applied his design skills to draw attention to Black people and other historically underinvested people groups through his work with the Black Panthers. Earlier in history on a different continent, Willem Sandberg designed fake identification cards for Jewish people during World War II. That way, the Germans would pay less attention to the Jewish people in Holland. Today, Tré Seals designs typefaces that draw our attention to the global justice movements while equipping contemporary activists with robust letterforms for protest posters. In the world of academics, Dori Tunstall guides us as she decolonizes design curriculum and staff structures and directs attention to indigenous peoples’ lives and leadership.
These people, among many others, are the people I have been giving my attention to this summer. I plan to direct my students attention towards these visionaries as well. I feel hope when I imagine the seeds of knowledge dispersing in the virtual classroom. Those seeds eventually will grow into the decisions that the student designers will make throughout their careers. May they follow the lead of the designers mentioned above, and make the world a freer place.