One of the best design books of 2023 was Centered: People and Ideas Diversifying Design, a remarkable collection of essays, interviews, and stories compiled and edited by my guest for this episode Professor Kaleena Sales. This amazing book spans geographical regions and cultures from Alabama to India, and from Kurdistan to Zimbabwe, illuminating designers, techniques, ideas, and artifacts that have previously gotten little or no attention by the established western design community. The book provides important context for all leaders building inclusive, human-centered design teams and programs. 


Kaleena Sales is Associate Professor of Graphic Design and Chair of the Art & Design Department at Tennessee State University, a historically black university in Nashville. Her research and writing are rooted in racial justice and equity, with a specific focus on the ways culture informs aesthetics.

Kaleena and host Doug Powell are joined in the second half of the episode by one of the contributors to Centered, Sadie Red Wing, a Lakota/Dakota graphic designer and advocate from the Spirit Lake Dakota Nation. Sadie teaches at OCAD University in the Graphic Design and Indigenous Visual Culture programs.