Black Stories/29: Lesley-Ann Noel

An abstract background pattern of densely packed colored dots in red, green, blue, and yellow arranged in a semi-random mosaic design. In the foreground, there is a yellow rectangular banner with the Amazon smile logo and the text "Amazon Design Black Stories" in black lettering.

Designer and Educator, Lesley-Ann Noel, joins Media Producer, Justin James Lopez to discuss challenging the status quo and designing a more equitable future. Let’s hear her story!

Lesley-Ann Noel, the author of Design Social Change, is a designer, researcher, and educator who practices design through critical and anti-hegemonic lenses with a focus on equity, social justice, and the experience of those who are often excluded from design research. Dr Lesley-Ann Noel’s research interests are centered around those who would traditionally be excluded from community-led research, design-based learning, and design thinking. She practices primarily in the areas of social innovation, education, and public health. In her research, Lesley-Ann highlights the work of designers outside of Europe and North America and promotes critical awareness by introducing critical theory concepts and vocabulary into the industry. Lesley-Ann has a BA in Industrial Design from the Universidade Federal do Paraná, in Curitiba, Brazil. She also has a Master’s in Business Administration from the University of the West Indies in Trinidad and Tobago and earned her PhD in Design from North Carolina State University in 2018.

Lesley-Ann has been awarded honorary doctorates for service to the field of design by the University of the Arts London (2023) and the Pacific Northwest College of Art (2021). She is an active member of the Design Research Society and a co-editor of ‘The Black Experience in Design’. She is an Assistant Professor with a focus on Design Studies in the Department Media Arts, Design, and Technology at North Carolina State University.

Listen in to here more of her story...

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