MY JOURNEY AS A GRAPHIC DESIGNER IN A DIVERSE CULTURED ORGANISATION

Kerapetse Seemule

It is important that we create edutainment programs for both parents and children to sensitize them on LGBT issues. In my experience, I believe it is essential to teach children at a tender age about human rights and diversity. The knowledge and skills will not only help their journey of self awareness but also in building an understanding of humanity as a dynamic.

Technology has demolished the boarders separating countries with the various digital platforms. In a world that is hastly progressing, we still have some norms that are dominant and affect our adavancement as a society. People are always getting judged by how they think, how they act, and how they live since the foundation of societies. The LGBT community is one of those that is commonly persecuted for its difference. They are struggling with these oppressive ideas. My idea in opposition to these ideas is to create visibility and recognition by developing a platform that is LGBT friendly. Such a platform compels members to freely express themselves, educate and sensitize people through my designs and share artworks across these various digital transformation without any concern.

In my experience as a graphic designer in an LGBT organization, I face various challenges. In design fundamentals and principles, we were taught that simplicity is key and that is experessive from elements such as a logo. A logo should at least posses three colors maximum, this makes it easy to work with it in any form of design. Designing using the rainbow that has six colors has been a huge challenge to me because I am used to cooperate designs which most of the logo designs are made out of a few colors, with at least three or less colors and less written content on the design. One of the challenges with working with the LEGABIBO logo that consists of six colors is finding a suitable background that will suit the logo and the type of colors to apply so that the information is visible.

As the organization is knowledge based, which means most of the content we put out in design is packed with a lot of written material and less images. In marketing and communication, images communicate better than typography. I had to learn to balance the two to create a communicable advert or design. Despite this challenge of working with a brand with so many colors, this journey has developed my creative approach towards design. I have learnt to think outside the box, to breaking the rules and still maintain simplicity and creativity.The LGBT community consists of diverse communities and each of these communities has a flag that represents them. As a graphic designer I have to know each and every single one of them and what they stand for so that I can be able to design and communicate accordingly.

LEGABIBO has more visibility on Facebook than other platforms and now it is challenge to me as a designer to assess my audience creating the right content for other platforms and as their graphic designer for LEGABIBO I had to look for new ways to connect with the already substantial LGBT audience and it’s hard to know where to start when it comes to graphic design.

Aside from the good ole rainbow flag, used over and over, there has not been much of a consensus on how to approach logo design and branding within an LGBT audience in mind. The LGBT movement has also instituted symbols to instill a positive change in perspective, that is to say each sexual orientation has its own symbol to draw contrast between the orientations. It is very important to understand what each of the LGBT symbols means when designing.

The virtual space helps the LGBT community to find or unite communities and express themselves. It is important that this community sees representation of themselves when they get online. They are humans and they need to find places in real life and online that are open-minded and my design are made to help with creating these realities. The LGBT people around me are creative minds that can assist me with ideas, content and coming up with concepts for us to implement. I get to learn more about the organization, through events and conferences through capturing moments and the use of pictures to create to content for social media to drive the movement.