I am Woman, Hear Me Meow?
It appears the cover of the Women in Design issue of STEP has sparked some controversy over at BeADesignGroup. Male blogger Drew Davies feels that the "kute kitten kover" sends a message exactly opposite of what was intended because of the negative stereotypes kittens perpetuate about women. Drew was promptly and repeatedly put in his place.
This marks the second time a design blogger went up against a STEP inside design cover and was beaten down by the community. First it was William Drenttel, who used the V21N1 STEP cover to discuss plagiarism, now Drew, taking on V21N5.
Hey, I love the cover. It's clever, appropriate, and harmless, and because of the context it's in, it actually attempts to undermine this negative symbol of women -- unlike recent comments from ex WPP Creative Chief Niel French, who said women don't deserve top creative positions because their roles as caregivers and childbearers prevent them from succeeding. Mr French was also promptly and repeatedly put in his place -- in large part by the blogging community -- and forced to resign.
But before you weigh in on the controversy (if you dare), you may want another, slightly more authoritative, take on the cover concept. In this case I recommend the article written by Emily Oberman and Bonnie Siegler. Yeah. That's right. They're the ones who actually designed the cover.
Good luck!
Eh, it sounds like he's holding his own. Unlike Mr. Frenchie.