You may have noticed a few dispatches from D CEO editor Glenn Hunter regarding the trouble surrounding an in-progress mixed-use development in downtown called The Drever. Since I go for a walk every day around lunchtime (#amblebrag), I’ve been aware of the project for some time. But earlier this week, while out and about, something at The Drever caught my eye, a banner advertising the project that I had not looked at very closely. That’s it above, featuring Photoshopped renderings of what The Drever will eventually look like as well as a bit of the, um, bustling downtown crowd. Pretty standard stuff.
Now, then, let’s get to what caught my eye — computer, ENHANCE:
No, no, I said ENHANCE:
Ah, OK, there we go. So. A few questions:
1) Why was this pair of women included in the photo on the banner, almost certainly at a later time?
2) Was it because the designer — or the client, more likely — felt that the make-up of the crowd walking toward, but not necessarily into, The Drever was not diverse enough?
3) OK, if that was the case — and I get it; it’s smart marketing to go for that “middling community college” level of diversity — why not spend, oh, I’m not a graphic designer, but let’s say 15 minutes making sure the two women of color inserted into the photo a) didn’t look like they had been hastily scotch-taped into a corner of the frame and b) didn’t look like they were silently casting judgement on the entire project?
4) Do you think anyone who really looked at this — like really looked at it — would be more interested in signing up for a place at The Drever?
