Celebrating Black Designers and Creatives
Image credit: nappy.co
Part 1: Locating Black Talent
The design industry is full of Black talent shaping culture, products and communities. At Good Maven we meet teams where they are and help them grow, which includes doing the work to surface more Black designers and creatives, widen networks and build fair, repeatable hiring practices.
This article is a practical starting point. It celebrates the communities who maintain vital job boards and directories, and it gives hiring teams clear steps to find, engage and hire more Black talent. It is not exhaustive. It is a living resource we will keep updating as we learn.
Inside part 1 you will find:
Curated job boards focused on Black designers and creatives, with quick notes on when to use each.
Directories and communities for targeted sourcing and warm introductions.
In part 2 we bring:
Tips to make roles more discoverable, from inclusive job language to where and how you share openings.
Outreach playbooks that build trust, including follow up rhythms and sample messages.
Process ideas that reduce bias, like structured interviews, clear rubrics and transparent feedback loops.
If your team wants help putting this into practice, we can partner on role design, sourcing and an inclusive hiring workflow. For now, dive in and start meeting the talent that will elevate your products and your culture.
Subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on LinkedIn for Part 2. For any additions to the list, we welcome your email to hello@goodmaven.com
Job boards
Global and North America
Black Career Network (US)
https://www.blackcareernetwork.com/
Black Talent Database job board (N America + Europe)
https://jobs.blacktalentdatabase.com/jobs
Meaningful Gigs (Global) - Great for early career remote designers
https://www.meaningfulgigs.com/
POCIT Jobs (US + UK)
https://www.pocitjobs.com
Where are the Black Designers (Global)
https://www.watbd.org/jobs
YCombinator (Global) - Startups located in Africa + Global
https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/
United Kingdom and Europe
Black Create Connect Job Board
https://jobs.plac-d.com/create.connect
Creative Access (UK)
https://opportunities.creativeaccess.org.uk/
SocialFIXT job board
https://www.socialfixt.org/job-board
Black Girls In Tech job board - mostly tech, sometimes design
https://www.blackgirlsintech.co.uk/job-board
BME Jobs (UK)
https://bmejobs.co.uk/
Directories
200+ Black Creatives - mostly artists + architects, some designers (Global)
https://www.airtable.com/universe/expJajWdokNAa6zqN/200-black-creators
African Digital Art — showcase platform to discover digital artists and designers across Africa and the diaspora, including 3D + Character artists
https://www.africandigitalart.com/
Black Artists + Designers Guild member directory — architecture, interiors, product, fine art
https://badguild.info/member-directory
Black Artist Foundry directory — multidisciplinary Black artists + writers for hire and collaboration
https://www.blackartistfoundry.org/directory
BIPOC Studios - Black, Indigenous POC Owned Studios (Global)
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ZiWjlfqc02OeWL4hTNZymVT_kyNnO42xG-hucO3rC0E/edit?usp=sharing
Black Creative Network- searchable directory by creative field and city (Global, Mostly Africa)
https://blackcreativenetwork.com/
London page
https://blackcreativenetwork.com/city/london/
Black Designers & Black-owned Studios (Global, mostly)
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ZiA-eCUbUoEYsauFgHKoFeWiBL5p9tHj16uYl7jjdtc/edit?usp=sharing
Black Designers in Brazil
https://designersnegresnobrasil.com.br/
Black Designers of Canada
https://blackdesignersofcanada.com/
Black Disabled Creatives (Global)
https://blackdisabledcreatives.com/
Black Game Devs — list of Black game developers, designers, artists
https://www.blackgamedevs.com/
Black Girls in Design
https://www.blackgirlsindesign.com/
Black Women Photographers — hireable directory of 2,000+ photographers and creatives
https://blackwomenphotographers.com/
Blacks Who Design (Global)
https://blackswho.design/
Designers of Colour directory - Black, Asian, and ethnically diverse illustrators and graphic designers
https://www.designersofcolour.co.uk/
Diverse Creatives (Mostly US, some global)
https://diversecreatives.com/
FIGMA Africa
https://friends.figma.com/lagos/
Open Design Afrika - from 2020 - great global list of speakers
https://opendesignafrika.org/festival/
People of Craft (Global)
https://peopleofcraft.com/
Revision Path (Global)
https://revisionpath.com/podcasts/