Y'all are racist

[Chris MacDonald]

"How can I improve the lot of my fellow man? I know, the representation of people in unbuilt spaces"

 

https://www.dezeen.com/2018/08/30/diversity-architecture-cgis-opinion-margaret-ravenscroft/

 

Really?

[beestee]

Someone needs to make a good set of space aliens that we can put in our scenes. That would change the topic of discussion away from diversity I think.

[Eliot Blenkarne]

I think it's a fair piece of commentary to be honest.

[heni30]

I agree. The image the author refers to in the beginning seems dated and not typical - with all white professionally shot stock photography fake smile people. I don't think high quality renderers would use such la-la land people entourage.

 

 

I do airport shops and half the review board we present to might be minority so we have an extensively diverse figure library.

Edited August 30, 2018 by heni30

[dmitriikarpovich]

Though there are countries where the diversity of ethnics are quite low.

[Chris MacDonald]

I think it's a fair piece of commentary to be honest.

 

Based on a singular image?

[Ernest Burden III]

Though there are countries where the diversity of ethnics are quite low.

 

There are countries where 'ethnics' are just about everybody. Know your market.

 

Renderings are largely advertisements. You have to know your audience and your market and the intended results for your client. Everything in the image should serve that purpose, including but not limited to the type/number/clothing/activity of ... people shown. Having said that, some clients will tell you to take out black people you appropriately included, for example, for no good reason--or hopefully they don't also share their thinking.

 

I see TV commercials that have black or Hispanic mostly/only casts. I don't see these as racist, just targeting a customer base. Generally, these same companies have ads with other demographics represented. If you are selling a home product you show a family, which may be a black family. What about if you're selling a home?

 

Renderings aren't inherently racist, clients sometimes are for demanding bias-driven demographics in our work or by failing to even consider a broader scope of people and accepting all-white, blonde children with balloons--driving red Ferarris.

 

Make sure the project architect takes the 10 minutes needed to explain site and social context to the visualiser. Then, end the process with a check.

 

Can't argue with that last point, end with a check.

[heni30]

There is, however a bias when it comes to outward appearance no matter what the ethnicity. This applies not only to apparel but to physical appearance as well. I've been asked to remove a slightly pudgy couple going into a fast food restaurant. They're not asking for supermodels but I've been asked to remove figures that were deemed unattractive. This was carried to an extreme when a client complained about a black person whose features were too prominent. They want black but not too black. Sloppily dressed ( in their view) is grounds for removal even if it is an international airport with mostly tired, disheveled people wandering about.

[Ernest Burden III]

...They want black but not too black...

 

I've heard that one, too.

 

If you are selling a home product you show a family, which may be a black family. What about if you're selling a home?...

 

So that's the rub. It's not so much who is shown, but the concept of who belongs. Who belongs in the Manhattan condo fantasy-land? Who belongs in 'fast-casual' dining at a strip-mall? Is this a place for those people? 'Those' might be different for South Africa vs. South Dakota.

 

I'm getting carried-away with my point. If you are rendering an office, you don't put people in evening gowns (you don't, do you?).

 

If rendering can be said to be about illustrating an improved built environment, that should include an improved social awareness.

[Chris MacDonald]

I've heard that one, too.

 

Wow. Perhaps I live in a bubble then, and the article provoked a knee jerk response.

Edited September 2, 2018 by Macker
Typo

[Scott Schroeder]

I wonder if the diversity issue is a much bigger thing in the US than it is in other countries? I too have heard just about everything when it comes to adding diversity into the renderings, including the, "We want diversity, but that not that kind of diversity."

 

Much of our community recreation center work has a lot of diversity requirements. Many of these are going into communities that if they had a place for kids to go after school or while their parents are working to make ends meet, maybe that will get them off the streets and put them on a path for success in life. The last thing you want to do is show a whitewashed rendering in that case.

[M V]

I was asked recently to place an obese person in a render - that's how diverse its getting.

 

This is been a topic for a long time for me. http://skalgubbar.se/ came out to address some of it, and I now see more and more diversity in 2D and 3D people. Most of the time, I just use silhouettes to avoid the topic altogether on concept/sketch work.

 

There has been some very nice additions to AXYZ of skin color.

[M V]

Here's a good link/resource - most of these I am sure you know about - but it does show that there are strides being made to add diversity to the render-peeps collections out there.

 

https://www.archdaily.com/777432/6-websites-for-ethnically-diverse-render-people

[Tom Sproule]

I read most of the article.

 

We do a lot of renders and they have a lot of diversity, with blacks, asians and whites. Sure, some renders don't. But when we add people we normally add in the various races as well as age demographics.

 

If it's a problem with a specific studio or artist then she should take it up with them, rather than just making a general statement about all visuals or visualisers. I'm sure they would be happy to correct it, given the chance.

[lasse1309]

for years we are offering free cut-outs on our xoio-air site.

it is our staff shot by ourselves.

very diverse: 50-50 male/female, 8-9 different nationalities. maybe more.

all kinds of orientation.

 

do you "see" it in an image? no. the french guy looks like the germans and you can't distinguish the "gay" from the "straight".

equipping the one with a baguette and a mustache and the other one with a panzerfaust would not do the job and might be quite disappropriate in all possible use cases i could think of.

(and would be "stereotyping", huh?)

 

well, they are all "white" but sorry: not once a "black" person applied for working here. not once.

and maybe it could have to do with our local demographics.

 

sorry for providing free content.

Edited September 24, 2018 by lasse1309

[Tommy L]

We make sure to use a rich mix of people. That refers to age, size, race, etc. Its normally our client that thins the herd. And I dont think its intentional, more sub-concious, which in a way is even worse. I was once at a shoot where casting mostly brought hot girls in hooker heels, studly white guys and one african american man. Guess who the creative director wanted to put behind the counter as the concierge? I had to intervene for the good of the project, but its not always easy. We are subservient to the money-men (and occasionally money-women) and the points that the original article bring to light are valid. Its myopic and naively written, but I cant fault the premise.

On a side note, my office is all male. Not intentional, just the way its turned out.

[Casey Hawley]

We do renderings for a movie theatre chain here and the owner HATES when people wear sandals or flip-flops in his theatres, so we are careful when placing peeps in the renderings. Forget the fact that we're in Phoenix, Arizona, where people wear sandals 9 months out of the year!