#redunderlineproject is an approach to spread social awareness for unique names often under prejudice and mistreatment within the major sectors of tech, the education system, and the corporate world. Non-European names tend to have 'red underlines' when writing an essay and sending a text which can be extremely tedious and unprofessional for the user. This relates deeply to me, ever since I have been given access to the internet in elementary school, I had always had the phrase, 'Muting a' whenever typing out my name Mutunga, due to autocorrect. A Major fault are the tech companies that have been around for decades, and the internet much longer and have yet to pose a solution for the billions of people with Non-English spelled names. Although this deep rooted issue transcends beyond screens, this creative campaign aims to spread awareness, empathize with others, and ultimately make a difference globally.
I thought to create an eye-catching, yet thought provoking design with text that intrigues passersby’s to spend an extra second thinking. The bold yellow along with the direct and straightforward language aims to spark a sense of introspection into our own lives and offer solutions we can all be apart of to make a change in the world for the better.
Date: September 2024
Role: Visual Design & Copywriting
This audio was originally documented from my research for this campaign and later transcribed using Google's NotebookLM, an AI software transcribing text to a podcast style conversation. My goal in this is to spread awareness to this issue and more importantly provide solutions to improve the lives of others with unique names across the globe.
Goal: Raise awareness to name discrimination in western countries for professionals, students, and scholars to have the same opportunities and respect regardless of background.
Statistics: According to the University of Manchester, candidates with 'white' sounding names received far more favorable responses in interviews 50%, despite having identical qualifications and experience.
Impact: A change in stigma towards 'ethnic names' can see a reduction of job rejections, loan/mortgage denials, and school rejections to name a few. Overall, this push can be the key in making a difference against name discrimination, misspellings, bias, and prejudice.
