Who is Debbie Millman?
Debbie Millman, among numerous other things, is a huge hero of mine. She is an inspirational designer, author, branding guru, educator and podcaster who believes in making a difference through design. She is also a born and bred New Yorker.
The Creative Women's Circle will be presenting Debbie Millman at Melbourne's Design Week in March 2020.
2 min read
Who is Debbie Millman?
Debbie Millman, among numerous other things, is a huge hero of mine. She is an inspirational designer, author, branding guru, educator and podcaster who believes in making a difference through design. She is also a born and bred New Yorker.
As a woman who wears many hats, Debbie Millman will be visiting Melbourne for Melbourne Design Week on the weekend of March 14 and 15. Presented by us, the Creative Women’s Circle, Debbie will be sharing her experiences in the industry through the idea of Courage vs Confidence and hosting a workshop on Visual Story Telling.
As a podcaster, Debbie hosts Design Matters which has become the world’s most downloaded design podcast. Debbie has interviewed some of the biggest names in design since her show began in 2005. They include graphic design luminaries like Stephan Sagmeister and Paula Scher. She has also used her casual interview style to get to the heart of Eat, Prey Love’s Elizabeth Gilbert, feminist author and now fiancé Roxanne Gay and artist Marina Abramović’s creative processes.
Debbie Millman is the famed founder and talent on the podcast Design Matters.
Debbie is also an educator and runs a Masters in Branding at the School in Visual Arts in New York. Here she shares her knowledge gleaned from 22 years at Sterling Brands where she was president of the design division. She has worked for over 200 of the world’s top brands and written books to help students truly understand the process.
Branding is not the only topic Debbie has written about. Her published works also include more illustrative works like Self-Portrait as your Traitor and Look Both Ways. Her most recent collaboration is Leave Me Alone with the Recipes: The Life, Art, and Cookbook of Cipe Pineles. Cipe was an unsung American designer and educator who left a big impression on Debbie. One day Cipe’s personally illustrated scrapbook, full of family recipes, was found at an antiques fair. It was this book that Debbie with Sarah Rich, Wendy MacNaughton and Maria Popova (curator of the blog Brain Pickings) reinvented into a beautiful book that everyone can now cook from.
She is an inspirational designer, author, branding guru, educator and podcaster who believes in making a difference through design.
Debbie’s passion for writing and design critique keeps expanding and she is now the Editorial and Creative Director of Print Magazine. Founded in 1940, Print Magazine was the go-to for inspiration and information for many graphic designers, however it went out of circulation in 2018. It has been Debbie’s passion for design that will ensure it will rise again this year and is something to look forward to.
In 2017 I got to meet Debbie in New York while researching my PhD on women in design. While I was certainly star-struck, it was great to find her so warm and welcoming. She has overcome a childhood of violence and abuse. She has set goals and challenged herself. She has achieved admirable career and personal success and is now at a place where she wants to share her secrets with other creative women. There is much about her to admire.
So that is who Debbie Millman is. We hope that you have your interest sparked and will see you at either her speaking event or workshop in March.
- Jane Connory, PhD, Special Events Co-ordinator at Creative Women’s Circle
Advocating for the recognition of creative women
At Creative Women’s Circle we know the work women do is valuable and deserves recognition. And not only the paid type, it is also all those unpaid hours which need to be celebrated and championed – whether raising a family, volunteering for a good cause or contributing hours to the creative community.
3 min read
At Creative Women’s Circle we know the work women do is valuable and deserves recognition. And not only the paid type, it is also all those unpaid hours which need to be celebrated and championed – whether raising a family, volunteering for a good cause or contributing hours to the creative community.
The Australian Honours System is one way that our Government celebrates such achievements, through awarding medals for achievement and distinguished service. In 2018, extraordinary women like Liz Ellis, awarded for her support and advocacy for young women and contributions to netball, the late Betty Cuthbert, awarded as an advocate for research into a cure for multiple sclerosis and her distinguish athletics career and Evonne Goolagong-Cawley, the eminent tennis player, all received Appointments as Companions (AC) by the Governor General.
Although this list of high achieving females is impressive, the reality of the Order of Australia is that since 1975, only one third of the nominations for all categories have been women and only 30 women overall have received appointments. The creative sector is also quite underrepresented, with only a handful of architects being nominated in the history of the awards.
One of our core values at the Creative Women’s Circle is empowerment and we take our mission —to champion, support and connect women, very seriously. Early in October, Samantha Jayaweera, our new President and myself, attended the Recognition Matters co-design workshop held by the Department of Premier and Cabinet and Office for Women. Here we heard the disturbingly common statistics about the systemic undervaluing of women in our society. As I write this, the media is reporting six deaths of women to domestic violence in the past seven days. Gender inequity is not only desperately unfair but also life threatening.
Upheavals in the structures of our society need to be made before any changes can be affected. Nominating more women for an Order of Australia might seem meagre in the grand scheme of things but, the narrative surrounding women needs to change from vulnerable to empowered for these behaviours to change. We believe that having a 50/50 ratio of female nominations in the Australian Honours System is one way of doing this. As Emily Lee-Ack, CEO of the Office for Women, said at this workshop, “If you’re not advancing equality, you’re reinforcing inequity.
At CWC, we believe that creative women make an impactful and important change in our community and that (unlike Wayne from Wayne’s World) we are worthy of recognition in this platform. So we challenge you to think about who, in your sphere of influence, deserves this and to put them forward for an Order of Australia. The process is surprisingly easy and you can band together with friends and family to complete the form.
It’s a common belief and harmful social norm that women often shy away from applying for jobs if they don’t meet all the criteria. Sadly, this mind set extends to other forums for achievement and recognition like Order of Australia nominations. Let’s start to change this by thinking about the strong, talented, generous women in your life that you could nominate in these categories. The criteria on the four categories are very simple, for example:
· The Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) is for eminent achievement and merit of the highest degree in service to Australia or humanity at large.
· The Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) is for distinguished service of a high degree to Australia or humanity at large.
· The Member of the Order of Australia (AM) is for service in a particular locality or field of activity or to a particular group.
· The Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) is for service worthy of particular recognition.
So, gather a group of CWC friends, brainstorm a nomination and make it happen. After all, we all make valuable contributions and deserve the recognition.
Jane Connory is a PhD candidate at Monash University, and is working towards a gender inclusive history of Australian graphic design. She has been a practising designer and illustrator in the advertising, branding and publishing sectors, in both London and Melbourne, since 1997. When she’s not teaching at Monash University you’ll find her being the National Head of Communications at the Design Institute of Australia.