— African Proverb

2020 Design Legacy

“If you close your eyes to facts, you will learn through accidents”

— African proverb

ILLUSTRATED BY MARIETTA MIFSUD WRITTEN BY ANTHONY KELLY Design Legacy: A Look at Some of History’s Most Inspiring Black Creatives and Innovators. By Anthony Kelly

INTRODUCTION

In celebration of Black History Month, I wanted to write this short book to create an opportunity for us to reﬂect on and give due credit to the work of some of the world’s most creative and inﬂuential black innovators. As someone who has been able to enter into a successful career as a Product Designer, I really hope that this booklet will act as inspiration and motivation for the next generation of innovative thinkers and creators.

I believe some of the most exciting stories about some of the tech and creative industry’s most innovative minds aren’t prominent enough in the media. I personally believe this is due to the lack of promotion they receive by mainstream sources. These stories aren’t easy to come across, yet it is so important that aspiring young creatives are able to identify role models that represent them and that they can be inspired by. The absence of such information can often leave young black innovators feeling empty and asking themselves questions such as; ‘Has anyone like me done this before?’ or ‘Am I suitable for this type of role?’. I hope that whilst reading this booklet, you are able to answer these questions, and it can help to remove any doubts you may be having. I encourage you to share these stories with your family, friends and colleges to help motivate them to achieve their biggest goals.

I believe that we can take steps towards a more equal creative world if we are able to spread more awareness and educate others on some of the incredible successes achieved throughout history by black innovators in this sector. AMERICAN

Jerry Lawson

“Be a mountain or lean on one.” — Somali proverb

ENGINEER TECH Jerry Lawson 1940 - 2011

FATHER OF GAME CARTRIDGES

Before PlayStation transformed the way we played video games through the optical disc and we could switch games in order to play a variety of games in our home, it was Lawson who ﬁrst made it possible. AMERICAN & GHANAIAN DESCENT

Bozoma Saint John

BUSINESSWOMAN & MARKETING EXECUTIVE TECH WHO AM I?

Bozoma Saint John is an American businesswoman and Marketing Executive of Ghanaian descent. Saint John has worked with a long list of large and respected companies including PepsiCo, Ashley Stewart, Apple Music and Uber, where she worked at a managerial level. She is now in the prestigious position of Chief Executive of Marketing at Netﬂix.

PROJECTS

Saint John has become a well-known marketer in the tech industry and her portfolio speaks for her skills and talent. Since joining Netﬂix, Saint John’s has emphasised the importance of listening to customers to learn which concepts appeal to them and has made it her mission to diversify Netﬂix’s production portfolio. FRENCH

Olivier Rousteing

FASHION DESIGNER FASHION WHO AM I?

Olivier Rousteing is a French fashion designer who has been the Creative Director of Balmain since 2011. Rousteing revolutionised French fashion through his manifestation of youth and diversity to rebrand and re-popularise Balmain.

PROJECTS

Before Rousteing’s arrival, Balmain’s primary consumers were the older generation. Bringing in a new look that speaks to younger and more diverse consumers had been Rousteing's mission since joining the brand. Rousteing has introduced a more ﬂashy and intricate design which has signiﬁcantly boosted Balmain’s sales and brand recognition. In November 2015, Balmain launched their collaboration with the international Swedish retail store, H&M. CANADIAN IRISH & GUYANESE DESCENT

Sinead Bovell

BUSINESSWOMAN TECH WHO AM I?

Sinead Bovell is the founder of WAYE (Weekly Advice for Young Entrepreneurs) and is of Canadian, Irish and Guyanese descent. Through WAYE, Bovell advises young entrepreneurs on how to prepare for the future of technology and how to evaluate emerging and disruptive technologies in the workplace. As well as providing insight into technology, Bovell and WAYE are working on fostering a culture focused on supporting minorities in learning technical skills and entrepreneurship.

PROJECTS

Since the launch of WAYE, Bovell has spoken at institutions including; The United Nations, The United States Chamber of Commerce and Bloomberg on the future of technology. BRITISH & NIGERIAN DESCENT

Silas Adekunle

ENGINEER & TECH ENTREPRENEUR TECH WHO AM I?

Silas Adekunle is a British tech entrepreneur of Nigerian descent who created the world's ﬁrst intelligent gaming robot; Reach Robotics. In 2017, Reach Robotics caught the attention of Apple, which led to the company signing an exclusive distribution deal to sell the product in Apple stores across the US and UK. Unfortunately, in late 2019, Adekunle announced that Reach Robotics was closing down due to the challenges that came with entering the consumer robotics sector as a start-up.

PROJECTS

Adekunle's latest project, ‘R.I.’, was created in order to make it easier for companies to quickly and securely implement a cloud infrastructure to remotely monitor, manage and control their robots, industrial automation and IoT devices. AMERICAN & NIGERIAN DESCENT

Jessica Matthews

BUSINESSWOMAN TECH WHO AM I?

Jessica Matthews is an American businesswoman of Nigerian descent, who co-founded Uncharted Power; a company that uses soccer balls as power generators using kinetic energy. Since the launch of Uncharted Power, the goal has been to use the technology as a renewable kinetic energy solution to power micro-grids for communities, extensive facilities and the Internet of Things. Matthews believes that the future of power is going to be self-generated thanks to all of the small motions that surround us day-to-day. This means that communities and cities would be able to be self-powered by their people, thus making energy more accessible and cheaper.

PROJECTS

Today, Uncharted Power holds around twelve patents for what they call ‘motion-based, oﬀ-grid renewable energy’ (M.O.R.E.). BRITISH & GHANAIAN DESCENT

Ozwald Boateng

FASHION DESIGNER FASHION WHO AM I?

Ozwald Boateng is a British fashion designer of Ghanaian descent, known for his colourful twist on classic British tailoring. His unique style led to his work being commissioned in globally successful ﬁlms including Hannibal, Sex and the City, Black Panther and The Matrix. Boateng has designed uniforms for British Airways staﬀ, and his work has been worn by the likes of Mick Jagger, Jamie Foxx and Will Smith in high-end fashion shows such as Givenchy. Boateng is dedicated to using his experience to reframe the dialogue and perception of African designers.

PROJECTS

From 2011 to 2015 Boateng Co-founded Made in Africa Foundation. A non-proﬁt organisation oﬀering private equity infrastructure investments for African entrepreneurs. AMERICAN

Jasmine Crowe

BUSINESSWOMAN TECH WHO AM I?

Jasmine Crowe is an American activist that founded Goodr; a company that aims to reduce food waste by leveraging technology. By using logistics, analytics, and security, businesses can donate extra food to nonproﬁt organizations and earn tax deductions in the process. Crowe has used her platform to share her advice on how we can reduce food waste, while at the same time helping minorities and elders to access aﬀordable food.

PROJECTS

Since the launch of Goodr, the company has developed a partnership with Atlanta's Hartsﬁeld-Jackson International Airport, the NFL and Netﬂix to help reduce food waste. GHANAIAN

Patrick Awuah Jr

ENGINEER & EDUCATOR TECH WHO AM I?

Patrick Awuah is a Ghanaian engineer, educator, and entrepreneur. At the age of 37, Awuah became a millionaire working for Microsoft. Following this success, Awuah began to think about ways in which he could use his wealth to add value to people's lives. He believed that it was his destiny to change the world by transforming the future leaders of his home country into critical-thinking creators based on innovation and science.

PROJECTS

In 1997, Awuah left Microsoft with the goal of returning to Ghana and working with Ashesi University to help them to establish themselves. Awuah now utilises his knowledge and resources within the educational sector to transform science into a more accessible subject for students across the globe.

In 2019, UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientiﬁc and Cultural Organisation) appointed Awuah as the Futures of Education Commission. AMERICAN

Jewel Burks

BUSINESSWOMAN TECH WHO AM I?

Jewel Burks is an American entrepreneur and the founder of Partpic; a startup that uses visual recognition to help users to save time and money when searching for replacement maintenance and operations (MRO) parts. Users are able to snap a photo of the product parts they need and the technology will generate search results for that product part at the most aﬀordable price. In 2016, Amazon acquired Partpic for an undisclosed amount.

PROJECTS

Since the sale of PartPic, Burks has joined a number of different companies to inspire and support other entrepreneurs from a variety of backgrounds. In 2019, Burke joined a company called Collab Capital to provide a growth solution for black founders seeking capital, who value profitability, ownership, and optionality. Burke is now Head of Google for Startups in the US, with a mission to level the playing field for under-resourced founders in emerging US markets. NIGERIAN

Chinedu Echeruo

TECH ENTREPRENEUR TECH WHO AM I?

Chinedu Echeruo is a Nigerian born tech entrepreneur who founded HopStop in 2005; a travel app that helps millions of users across the world to navigate major metropolitan areas. In 2013, it was reported that Echeruo sold the application to Apple.

PROJECTS

Following the sale of HopStop, Echeruo went on to create other successful projects, fulﬁlling his childhood dream of becoming an entrepreneur. Echeruo created a lead- generation and referral business for the travel industry called Tripology which he went on to sell to USA Today Travel Media Groups. Echeruo also created MindMeet; a social platform that allows users to fundraise for their favourite charitable cause by sharing their expertise. Epilogue

From the bottom of my heart, I want to thank you for taking the time to read this short book and to learn about some of the under-represented innovation success stories within the creative and technical sectors. I hope reading these short summaries about some of the world's most incredible innovative minds has helped inspire you. I hope it has helped you to realise the need to shout about great work across all ethnicities and nationalities, the need to celebrate work that deserves to be celebrated. To the aspiring creatives of today, I urge you to ﬁght for your passions and stay innovative against the odds. Who knows, maybe one day you too could inspire the next generation of talent in another step towards creating an equal creative world for all.

Special Thanks

Finally, I want to give credit and special thanks to my colleagues at Graphite Digital, namely Marietta Mifsud, Sam Hainsworth, Lauren Robinson, Georgia Baker, Thomas Michalak and Kerry Manley. Thank you all for your contribution to this piece of work and for your support throughout this project. It is inspiring to have a team that shares each other's passions as you have shared mine.