Inclusive Multicultural Illustration
Illustrating members of different ethnic groups can feel tricky. You might be scared of drawing other cultures because of:
Fear of depicting Stereotypes
Lack of Knowledge
Fear of Misrepresentation
Don’t allow fear to stop you from representing and including other people in your marketing and advertisement. Inclusivity can be the key to expanding your reach in your community. By featuring members of various ethnic backgrounds you can:
Break down traditional boundaries
Invite everyone to learn about what you or your company has to offer
Allow other groups of people to see themselves using your product or service
Reach out beyond the general market and expand your target audience
You can mitigate your fears by incorporating these simple strategic steps:
Look at your circle of friends. Odds are, your circle of friends is more diverse than you have realized. If you don’t have a large circle, then it might be a great time to venture out and learn about various members of your community. Visit your local Mexican eatery, or sip some coffee at your local Ethiopian tea shop. Have some baklava at the local gyro place. Reach out and touch someone!
Feature people who are not conventionally seen. What I mean by this is that a lot of advertisement and marketing may not feature a large woman, or quadriplegic or even a Muslim woman. These people are members of your community too! Feature those who may be typically left out of targeted ad’s. By featuring these people, you invite them to see themselves using your product. You are showing them that they too can benefit from you.
Be intentional. Inclusive marketing and strategies aren’t going to just show up one day ready to be implemented. Sometimes it takes a while to change our mind set. That’s okay as long as we remain intentional in our focus: inclusion.
Ask! We aren’t born knowing everything! You are bound to wonder why one culture’s norms are so different from yours. You can always Google, but if you have a friend that belongs to that certain cultural group you are wondering about, just ask! They will be happy you are interested and will likely share lots of tidbits you never knew. Also, this can help you grow as an individual and you will realize that you have more in common than you thought!
Location! Avoid making any one person featured larger or more prominent than another. We want to feature everyone equally well.
Including people into the organization does not have to be hard, but its does have to be done! We are on a multicultural planet, its time we lived multiculturally!