Sarah Boone, Garret Morgan, Marie Van Brittan Brown, Frederick McKinley Jones
My Design History page is focused on Black African descent inventors because they are the reason I have written the 'You Do Design' Course.
Faced with adversity from the day they were born they went on to change our every day lives which we now take for granted. At the time the inventions were revolutionary and it's only thanks to their forward thinking and resilience that we have things like;
The current traffic light system
Breathing apparatus for firefighters
The refrigerated van
The home surveillance system
The modern ironing board
The list goes on but just from that snapshot you can see the difference Black designers and inventors made at a time when they were not appreciated, allowed to be educated or valued.
Even when it was 'illegal' for a person of colour to file a patent they found a way to get their product out there and eventually changed that ruling, some inventions were filed by slave owners took the credit and succeeded in retaining the patent but we will never the extent of how many inventions were filed by the slave owners.
Later, slave owners were not able to capitalise on their slaves in this way as leaders changed and began to see their value.
You Do Design is engineered towards anyone who hasn't had the advantages of a robust formal education or has been unable to pursue Design in the usual route. We have recognised that being a creative person is not dependant on gaining high grades in Maths, English or any of the sciences, Design is integral to a creative person and will often learn the Math, Language and technical skills by learning in the Kinaesthetic way, and in context.
We are by no mans saying that you do not need to be educated but we are saying a high end advanced academic education will not necessarily yield a high end designer in the same way an excellent Medical School degree would.
Design is about instinct, creativity, research and the ability to constantly learn about a changing environment, Design is about creating something from nothing (which cannot be taught in a classroom) we can only provide the tools to help you make your vision a reality.
Karen's vision is to encourage and enable anyone, formally educated or not, to join the course and make their vision a reality by showing you process in full, from your initial concept, to getting working drawings, to evoking deep thought into the development of it, tackling and overcoming design issues, to guiding you through the importance of packaging and then taking it to market.
For more information and how to sign up visit www.youdidesign.co.uk
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