---
title: "Diversity in the design industry"
description: "Despite progressive values, the design industry remains overwhelmingly white. My 20-year experience confirms this lack of diversity."
date: "2018-03-15T00:00:00.000Z"
canonical: "https://www.antonsten.com/articles/diversity-in-the-design-industry/"
---

> I’ve been working as a designer in some fashion for more than two decades—as an employee and as an entrepreneur, in small studios and in large agencies, and at tiny startups and late-stage enterprises. What I’ve seen is that as an industry, we are teeming with progressive-leaning professionals, most of whom would avidly applaud the idea of greater diversity and inclusion in design workplaces.
>
> But if I’m honest, I can only count a handful of times that I’ve worked with an African American, Hispanic, or Native American designer at any level. The reality of the design industry is that we’re homogenous—overwhelmingly white.
>
> — [Creative careers elude people of color - Khoi Vinh](https://qz.com/1216574/creative-careers-elude-people-of-color/)

My experiences from a career that span over the same amount of time are very similar to Khoi's. Although Sweden's immigration policies have been generous over the years, I can count the times I've worked with people from the Middle East or former Yugoslavia on one hand.