As someone who uses and creates graphic design, I know what it takes to create something from scratch. I also appreciate and purchase other designs made by graphic designers to help save some time and support other artists. I recently purchased some Powwow dancer silhouettes from Etsy because right now I do not have any Adobe products installed on my computer. I'm creating a marketing package for my mom's side hustle business, Dahkota Dolls and we need new material, including creating some fun stickers with Canva. I'll get back to Canva in a minute and this is not a paid advertisement either, just to be clear.
Here's the new logo I was working on. Again, it's a time saver when you are looking for simple designs. For a little back story, my mom is from South Dakota. She is an enrolled member of the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe, which is the english and federal name or as many tribes are going back to is their traditional names in their own language. We are Dahkota Hunkpati, on my mom's side.
This leads me into my next subject and a brief sum up on Native American representation. In the early days of Hollywood they used Italians or Jewish actors to play Natives with brown face and head dresses. Thanks to John Wayne and John Ford, they put plains native War Bonnets on Diné (Navajos) as well as teepees in Monument Valley. Fact: Teepees are not "NATIVE" to the desert. That's right. Because as Native American's we are under this umbrella description that ALL natives are the same.
This is a photo from "The Searchers" it's supposed to be about are Comanches BUT in the background there are clearly Diné women (southwest tribe) and a teepee (northern plain tribes).
While Comanches are considered plains natives and at the time I'm sure Wayne and Ford wanted "Natives" in the background but it leads me to my complaint in today's world in general. I remember seeing a scene with a Diné man with his a squash blossom necklace wearing a head dress. THIS IS NOT A THING!
While I could discuss the ever long colonial impact on Indigenous communities, I'm specifically talking about one thing today, graphic design. I've been looking for specific Native American designs, then specific tribes, ie Diné or Dahkota. When I type in Plains Native American, I get a lot of hits, like War Bonnets and teepees. Then I type in Navajo, and I get...war bonnets and teepees in the desert.
I will give props to Canva, because I've used them as well as Adobe Spark for work and freelance. Out of the two, at least Canva has upped their graphic design for Native American in general. I was decently impressed compared to Adobe Spark. Once again, I'm not advertising for either but because worked for a tribe and I myself from two tribes (Dahkota/Diné) I needed something that represented the design.
Like I said I'm from two tribes, I'm Dahkota Sioux from Crow Creek and I'm also Diné Navajo from my dad's side. It's common to be from two different tribes and for a lot of Native Americans but by law, I can only be enrolled in one tribe. So because I was raised with the understanding and knowledge of the differences of my tribes, note: there are over 500 Federal recognized tribes within the U.S. Many of these tribes are with their own languages, traditions and even regalia. Am I asking for each tribe to be represented with in the graphic design community? Would be a great goal but understanding that there are different regions would be a huge start and benefit. Here are some examples:
Pacific North West - Alaska, British Columbia, Washington and Oregon areas share some of this design. We're going to talk about region. I would know that this was in the Northwest based on the designs.
South west - Diné (Navajo) - they are known for their rug designs and specific regalia as well.
This is a traditional rug dress and Tsiiyal (can't get the correct spelling from my keyboard ) is the "Navajo" Bun.
Northern Plain Tribes - War Bonnets and buck skin dresses.
This is what people ONLY think of when it comes to Native American.
This is a Northern Traditional Dance Regalia
Now this is what I get when I google for images -
The above photo are all Plains natives with one looking at Monument Valley, not Navajo.
Canva - Searched: Native American
Searched: Navajo
I scrolled and found some modern Plains Native American graphics, but that was it. The stereotypical cartoon "Native" was next with typical dream catchers and teepees.
Scrolling for Navajo you ended up with almost the same except for Monument Valley. Imagine trying to find Onk Akimel O'Odham (Pima) or Xalychidom Piipaash (Maricopa) Tribes. Or Eastern tribes such as Haudenosaunee (Iroquois).
I''m going to include pattern makers for fabric. I've seen WAY too many of the teepee with cactus and bows and arrows. Stop. Especially if you are designing stuff for children with the imagery on it. Yes, they conflate the two that Natives are ONE TYPE OF TRIBE and we are not.
Go for Nature or Landscapes. Stop the madness for the love of all that's holy.
The best way to educate non-Natives on tribes is to do it by state. Learn about your states tribes in modern times.
For the graphic designer community, please reach out to the different tribes communication offices maybe they've created something you can use or look for more Native-owned Graphic Design artists creating vectors like the ones I found on Etsy.
The only universal designs that best represent Native Americans as a whole is Powwow generic designs. Because so many dancers come from different regions, they will create take designs and symbols from their own culture and incorporate it into their dance regalia. This is how we as Natives know who's from where.
This is a Jiggle Dress Powwow Sticker I created - It can be from any Native tribe because anyone can dress Jiggle Dress.
These are Traditional Women Dancers - again, all these women come from different tribes.
While I understand that not everyone is going to learn ALL the different tribes but also then why are you creating something that you have very little knowledge of? Just like Chinese, Japanese and Korean, or English, Welsh, Scottish and Irish are not the same, neither are Native Americans.
Thank you for coming to my TED Talk -
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