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

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