In each issue Redbird Impact highlights an Illinois State faculty or staff member who exemplifies the University’s core value of civic engagement. The spring 2023 Campus Hero is Archana Shekara, professor of graphic design in the Wonsook Kim School of Art and creative director of Design Streak Studio, a research-based social innovation lab that focuses on human-centered service design. She is also the co-director of ethnic studies and serves on the president’s Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Council.
Shekara didn’t start out in graphic design. She was an artist—trained in drawing and painting—who worked in charcoal, pastels, oil, and watercolors. Eventually, she found her way into a classroom at Illinois State, where she was taught by a future mentor and colleague, and her path changed.
A pioneer of sorts, every class Shekara teaches includes one project about culture and identity. For years she’s been spreading the message that design can be used to change people’s mindsets for the good, to create awareness where diverse communities of people come together. She teaches her students that the sixth sense in design is the mind. She believes that the greater purpose of the profession is to find solutions in building a community of understanding and acceptance while helping society.
A native of India, in the spring of 2022, she founded the South Asian Design Educators Alliance, which she describes as a community of South Asian design teachers with a global perspective. Members come from around the U.S., with some from India and Bangladesh, seeking to collaborate with other organizations and share their design histories and perspectives.
Design Streak Studio turned 40 in November, with Shekara in the leadership role since 2016. Her tenure follows influential directors Pam Tannura and Julie Johnson. She describes herself as a designer, an artist, an educator, a sociocultural researcher, and a wife, and a mother of two grown children.
The following Q&A with Shekara was conducted in October. The interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
You were an artist in the traditional sense before coming to graphic design later. Was there a turning point for you?
Yes, my BFA is in painting and drawing, and I was very happy being a painter. I loved art history but never tried graphic design as an undergrad. I had resisted my husband’s advice to take a graphic design class saying, ‘I can’t. I’m a painter.’ My predecessor in Design Streak was Julie Johnson, who became my first instructor, and on my second day of class, after seeing my work, she said: ‘You’re a designer.’ I said I was only taking the class to experiment and not seeking another degree. She insisted I was a designer. So, I took that, and I never looked back. Julie was very influential. She had been my teacher and then my colleague. She encouraged me to go to graduate school.
During your long career in graphic design, you saw the profession changing. How did that change you?
I was a practicing designer for 12 years, and what I started to notice was this stereotyping of communities. It’s very easy to download stock images of Asian people and Black people and then use them in a design to show that we are a diverse workplace. As a designer I’ve done that, and then I saw how problematic that was because we don’t really live that way. So, I started questioning what I was doing. I felt I really needed to look into culture and identity and heritage and talk about design ethics. That’s when I decided that I needed to go to grad school to do this kind of research because I couldn’t find any research in design like that at the time in 2007. During grad school at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, I connected immediately with my thesis advisor Professor Jennifer Gunji-Ballsrud, and while working on my thesis, I started to ask questions like: How do we look at graphic design through ancestral cultural heritage and cross-cultural awareness? And how can we use design as a catalyst for talking about cultural awareness, cultural understanding, and cultural identity? I teach my students that it’s imperative that they know who they are first before addressing cultural differences and similarities and appreciating both.
You went from being a student in Design Streak to being named its third director, so what’s that like for you personally to be serving in this job?
I’ve been teaching ‘Streak’ since the fall of 2016, and it already had a legacy. It’s an honor to be part of that legacy. I’m a good fit because I come from a background of applied design since I had been a designer and art director for many years and had continued my professional practice. Also, I teach in a way that is client centered and student centered, but most importantly, equity centered. I am a sociocultural researcher, and I believe in bringing in and working with communities that are looking closely at social justice initiatives.
What were some of the challenges you faced when you began leading Design Streak Studio?
When I inherited Design Streak, only one client—the School of Theatre and Dance—stayed with us. I understood that doing design work is all about trust. With clients you need to grow that trust. With that mindset, we now have grown from that one client to more than 40 clients. The studio charges a nominal fee to for-profit clients, and any money we make goes right back to our students.
What role does pro bono work play in teaching your students about graphic design as a profession?
Every semester we have at least one client that is a nonprofit where we do the work pro bono. There was one semester where all we did that entire semester was work for pro bono clients. That type of work is such good experience for students because they learn how they are part of the community and how they can integrate themselves. You’re a part of the community, so if you work alongside the community, it benefits you as well. If the community flourishes that means that we flourish. If the community thrives then we also thrive as people.
Since your life’s work is now focused on teaching, how would you describe your students?
I align with Illinois State University’s core values, and I am fortunate to witness the growth and trajectories in my teaching, research, and service. My students are extremely capable and hungry to learn, understand, and accept various cultural perspectives and embrace our strong emphasis on equity, morality, and social justice. My students are amazing!
