Design, diversity, and the luxury of attention

We know its important as designers to serve a diverse societyto use our creative powers for good. One important step we can take is to change how people of color and people who live in socioeconomic distress are perceived and how they perceive themselves. Danyel Smith explains how HRDCVR is designed to be a luxury magazine true to the diverse society in which we all live.

We know it’s important as designers to serve a diverse society—to use our creative powers for good. One important step we can take is to change how people of color and people who live in socioeconomic distress are perceived and how they perceive themselves. We designed HRDCVR to be a luxury magazine true to the diverse society in which we all live. One of our goals is to start conversations about spaces for beauty in media created for people who are often marginalized and to elevate, via design, cultural narratives overlooked as plum content. We created a deeply designed experience because design is what people see from across the street. Because design is proof at first glance of the all-important attention paid to underserved communities. And because we are into building stories that unfold and pull people back to revisit them again and again. We were intentional about every design decision: from the choice of a creative director, to the weight of the paper, to the typography, to the details in footers at the bottom of every page. We created and published a design manifesto because design is as important—in some cases more important—than the written word. HRDCVR is also an actual hardcover to decrease the disposability factor. HRDCVR is a counter to today’s norm of fast, bite-sized, and shallow bits. In today’s world, proof of creative attention paid may be one of the ultimate luxuries—and we think everyone should have access to it.