“My belief is that we can engage audiences in the topic of bringing about positive change for women’s rights by communicating stories and messages in a new way.”
– Crissy Bogusz, Designer, British Vogue and Vogue Paris and Owner of CBDesign
Crissy Bogusz leads a life that she dreamed of, working as a designer at British Vogue and Vogue Paris. While people may assume that a woman in her position enjoys gender equality at work, things are not as rosy as it seems. Crissy has an individual conviction to work for women empowerment using her artistic liberty and creative skills. But, there are times when her wings are clipped.
Pink vs. Blue
There was a time when Crissy produced the graphic visuals of a government project on gender neutrality. She also led the Art Direction team of the campaign. To her surprise, she was asked to replace the colour pink with blue. While it would have been easy for her to keep quiet and follow the instructions, she had other plans. Instead of compromising on her creative freedom, she decided to speak her mind. She talked about the different interpretation of colors and how each of those has individual connotations. She stood by the colour pink, as choosing it as the predominant color of the campaign would send a strong message of gender equality.
Crissy Bogusz as a Mentor
Crissy has the opportunity to mentor young girls as a part of the project for The Girls Network. The organization allows young talents to work with successful women who mentor them in various campaigns. Currently, she is working with the young girls to create artwork for an exhibition to be held in London. The artwork will be based on the life stories of those young girls. It will also be influenced by the confidence they had through Crissy’s mentoring. To be successful in building up a trusting relationship with the girls, Crissy had to open up about her vulnerabilities. It was her way to make them feel comfortable.
Working on Women’s Rights
Crissy has a different way of working on women’s rights. Being an artist with 15 years of experience in digital design for film, TV and branding, Crissy has worked for Oscar-winning movies like Slumdog Millionaire. She also worked with legends like David Attenborough. Her challenge is to present unique and entertaining stories by reversing gender roles.
Thinking out of the Box
Crissy constantly engages in thinking out-of-the-box to create 10-second videos for the Snapchat team by using a new form of media to create and share journalism like it’s never seen before. Every one of those has an important message to convey. She uses humor to address issues of gender discrimination in Hollywood. Many of her creations are based on true life incidents. However, at the end of the day, she just wants to send the message of peace.
“Essentially I am a peace-loving artist, and my work reflects that,” says the artist who constantly believes in being creative about telling stories.
