Jahan Mantin's guest appearances

Jahan Mantin

Design Better Podcast

The Deep Dive

The Visible Voices

Seth Godin

Debbie Millman

Bob Baxley

Nancy Douyon

Kim Williams

Brad Frost

Dan Mall

Jake Knapp

Leah Buley

Josh Ulm

Meriah Garrett

Alex Schleifer

Diana Mounter

Megan Quinn

Stephen Gates

OwlTail

In this conversation, Philip talks to Boyuan Gao and Jahan Mantin, the co-founders of Project Inkblot a design education consultancy that partners with companies to build equitable products, services, and content. They discuss their origin story, what motivates them to re-think design, how they built their Design for Diversity (D4D) model and why designing “with” rather than “for” is a revolutionary act.  The Drop – The segment of the show where Philip and his guest share tasty morsels of intellectual goodness and creative musings.  Philip’s Drop: The Metaphors We Live By – George Lakoff &amp; Mark Johnson  Boyuan’s Drop: Omar S  Jahan’s Drop: Luster – Raven Leilani Special Guests: Boyuan Gao  and Jahan Mantin.

In this conversation, Philip talks to Boyuan Gao and Jahan Mantin, the co-founders of Project Inkblot a design education consultancy that partners with companies to build equitable products, services, and content. They discuss their origin story, what motivates them to re-think design, how they built their Design for Diversity (D4D) model and why designing “with” rather than “for” is a revolutionary act. The Drop – The segment of the show where Philip and his guest share tasty morsels of intellectual goodness and creative musings. Philip’s Drop: <a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/M/bo3637992.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Metaphors We Live By – George Lakoff &amp; Mark Johnson</a> Boyuan’s Drop: <a href="https://open.spotify.com/artist/3BvWiyLcyLMoOIm2U8HepI?si=pV2M62LnTyqDxJ3i8tAnCQ&amp;dl_branch=1" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Omar S</a> Jahan’s Drop: <a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374194321" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Luster – Raven Leilani</a> Special Guests: Boyuan Gao and Jahan Mantin.

Episode 80: Project Inkblot and Reimaging Design: A Conversation w/Boyuan Gao and Jahan Mantin

Steven Christian

Jahan Mantin is the co-founder of Project Inkblot, a consultancy that specializes in design education and partners with companies on adopting models and tools that supporting equitable products, services, content, and experiences. Jahan began her career in advertising and marketing at Time Out New York and later as the Associate Editor for Beyond Race Magazine. Jahan earned a B.A. in Communications and Culture from Clark University and reived the Kate Spade and Company Fellowship at the New Museum Incubator.    "I'm a designer and futurist, partnering with companies to build equitable products/services using Design for Diversity™ D4D.  Design for Diversity™ helps illuminate blind spots around cultural and racial biases within your team’s design processes, before they are embedded into the end product.  As the co-founder of Project Inkblot, our team has developed a framework to guiding how we design, create and build services, content etc. to not just guardrail against racial biases – but to center the voices, leadership and vision of those most impacted within our design process. I'm a relationship builder, a natural storyteller (before "storytelling" was a buzzword), connector, curator and community builder." Follow Project Inkblot on Twitter Steven Christian started his creative journey as a student-athlete. He got injured so he began to explore design. This path has led him into the augmented reality space where he empowers Black communities to express themselves through creativity, art, and technology. Born and raised in Sacramento, CA, Steven Christian grew up playing sports. He earned a football scholarship at the University of Hawaii. During his college career, he injured his hips and had to get bilateral hip reconstructive surgery. It was then that he began to explore art, comics, and development for mobile devices. It became an avenue of self-expression as well as therapy. He then received his Master of Arts from Oregon State where he focused on visual representation of social issues through an interdisciplinary lens: primarily animation and illustration. This path has led him into the augmented reality space where he is empowering Black communities to express themselves through creativity, art, and technology, and is now admitted to Medical School.    At Iltopia Studios, he tells stories about the Black experience in America using art and technology. His goal is to educate, empower, and entertain through immersive content creation.He founded Iltopia Studios as a creative studio to scale what he does into a platform that inspires and empowers people from his community to push beyond what is expected of them. Follow Steven on Twitter

<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/jahanmantin/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Jahan Mantin</a> is the co-founder of<a href="http://www.projectinkblot.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> Project Inkblot</a>, a consultancy that specializes in design education and partners with companies on adopting models and tools that supporting equitable products, services, content, and experiences. Jahan began her career in advertising and marketing at <a href="https://www.timeout.com/newyork" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Time Out New York </a>and later as the Associate Editor for<a href="https://twitter.com/beyondracemedia?lang=en" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> Beyond Race Magazine</a>. Jahan earned a B.A. in Communications and Culture from Clark University and reived the Kate Spade and Company Fellowship at the New Museum Incubator.  "I'm a designer and futurist, partnering with companies to build equitable products/services using <a href="https://thecreativeindependent.com/guides/how-to-begin-designing-for-diversity/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Design for Diversity™ D4D.  Design for Diversity</a>™ helps illuminate blind spots around cultural and racial biases within your team’s design processes, before they are embedded into the end product.  As the co-founder of Project Inkblot, our team has developed a framework to guiding how we design, create and build services, content etc. to not just guardrail against racial biases – but to center the voices, leadership and vision of those most impacted within our design process. I'm a relationship builder, a natural storyteller (before "storytelling" was a buzzword), connector, curator and community builder." Follow <a href="https://twitter.com/projectinkblot" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Project Inkblot on Twitter</a> <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/steven-christian-42387649/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Steven Christian</a> started his creative journey as a student-athlete. He got injured so he began to explore design. This path has led him into the augmented reality space where he empowers Black communities to express themselves through creativity, art, and technology. Born and raised in Sacramento, CA, Steven Christian grew up playing sports. He earned a football scholarship at the University of Hawaii. During his college career, he injured his hips and had to get bilateral hip reconstructive surgery. It was then that he began to explore art, comics, and development for mobile devices. It became an avenue of self-expression as well as therapy. He then received his Master of Arts from Oregon State where he focused on visual representation of social issues through an interdisciplinary lens: primarily animation and illustration. This path has led him into the augmented reality space where he is empowering Black communities to express themselves through creativity, art, and technology, and is now admitted to Medical School.  At <a href="https://shop.iltopia.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Iltopia Studios</a>, he tells stories about the Black experience in America using art and technology. His goal is to educate, empower, and entertain through immersive content creation.He founded Iltopia Studios as a creative studio to scale what he does into a platform that inspires and empowers people from his community to push beyond what is expected of them. Follow <a href="https://twitter.com/stuckonaneyelnd?lang=en" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Steven on Twitter</a>

Jahan Mantin of Project Inkblot and Steven Christian talk Design and Equity Design

Boyuan Gao

In today’s episode, we talk with Boyuan Gao and Jahan Mantin—the founders of Project Inkblot—who have built a practical framework that can help everyone design for diversity, and can also be a guide for challenging conversations. We discuss how they see design as an opportunity to bridge the divide and bring people into the conversation about designing products and services that address everyone’s needs, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, or religion. We also talk to them about their definition of intent vs. impact, and how to close the loop on making sure your impact is what you intended. We hope you can use some of their ideas as a way to open the door to difficult conversations, and better understand your colleagues and customers. Takeaways:  Understanding why the impact of a product can vary greatly from its intent. How design can act as an invitation to participate in difficult conversations. Learn about  Project Inkblot’s D4D framework to start building more equitable products, services, and content. 

In today’s episode, we talk with Boyuan Gao and Jahan Mantin—the founders of Project Inkblot—who have built a practical framework that can help everyone design for diversity, and can also be a guide for challenging conversations. We discuss how they see design as an opportunity to bridge the divide and bring people into the conversation about designing products and services that address everyone’s needs, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, or religion. We also talk to them about their definition of intent vs. impact, and how to close the loop on making sure your impact is what you intended. We hope you can use some of their ideas as a way to open the door to difficult conversations, and better understand your colleagues and customers. Takeaways: <ul> <li>Understanding why the impact of a product can vary greatly from its intent.</li> <li>How design can act as an invitation to participate in difficult conversations.</li> <li>Learn about <a href="https://thecreativeindependent.com/guides/how-to-begin-designing-for-diversity/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> Project Inkblot’s D4D framework</a> to start building more equitable products, services, and content.</li> </ul>

 Designing for Diversity: Project Inkblot’s Jahan Mantin and Boyuan Gao