CHERYL D. MILLER

TUESDAY, JANUARY 18, 2022

ABOUT THE DESIGNER

More than just a designer, Dr. Cheryl D. Miller is an activist, decolonizing graphic design professor, lecturer, revisionist historian, writer, and theologian. Dr. Miller has an MS in Communications Design from Pratt Institute, a BFA in Graphic Design from the Maryland Institute College of Art, a Doctor of Humane Letters from the Vermont College of Fine Arts, and a Master of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary. Dr. Miller founded Cheryl D. Miller Design, Inc., N.Y.C., as a Social Impact Design firm, serving organizations that worked to advance the flourishing of Black and African Americans. Dr. Miller’s work and practice have had an immense impact on vital conversations around race and equity in Graphic Design practice, academy, and industry, earning her accolades including being named Design Visionary for the 2021 Cooper Hewitt National Design Award and is a 2021 AIGA Medalist.

ABOUT THE LECTURE

Designing In The Dark

TUESDAY, JANUARY 18, 2022
In her Designer Talk titled Designing in the Dark, Dr. Cheryl D. Miller offers an unabashed, critical insight into one of the best-regarded eras of contemporary Graphic Design History, "Eclectic Modernism." Uniquely, Dr. Miller's early artistic career takes place during both the lingering impacts of Jim Crow and the height of the Civil Rights era, which also runs parallel to this iconic age in American graphic design. Dr. Miller revisits graphic design history by including the often-overlooked work and influence of Black designers like herself in the canon. With an energetic charisma that reclaims power and space for designers of diverse identities in the past, present, and future, Dr. Miller shares her scholarship to energize and inform the next generation of artists and designers.

Cheryl D Miller. Image courtesy of the designer.

Private Events for the RMCAD COMMUNITY

VIRTUAL ONE-ON-ONE MEETINGS WITH CHERYL D. Miller

Tuesday, January 18, 2022, and Wednesday, January 19, 2022
RMCAD students had the opportunity to meet and share their work one-on-one with Cheryl.

Next-Day Q+A

Wednesday, January 19, 2021
RMCAD students, faculty, and staff gathered virtually for a casual conversation with the visiting designer.

Recommendation List

VASD Program guests provide a recommendation list that gives insight into their work, practice, and research. Designer Cheryl D. Miller recommends:

  • Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power (book)

  • Beyond Diversity: 12 Non-Obvious Ways To Build A More Inclusive by Rohit Bhargava and Jennifer Brown. (book)

  • Extra Bold: A Feminist, Inclusive, Anti-racist, Nonbinary Field Guide for Graphic Designers by Ellen Lupton, Farah Kafei, Jennifer Tobias, Josh A. Halstead, Kaleena Sales, Leslie Xia, and Valentina Vergara

  • Madison Avenue and the Color Line: African Americans in the Advertising Industry by Jason Chambers (book)

  • Black, Brown + Latinx Design Educators: Conversations on Design and Race by Kelly Walters (book)

  • The Black Experience in Design: Identity, Expression, & Reflection edited by Anne H. Berry, Kareem Collie, Penina Acayo Laker, Lesley-Ann Noel, Jennifer Rittner, Kelly Walters (book)