Founded as a paid program in 2011 to address the shortage of UX
design talent, Huge XD School is back this year with a renewed
equity-centered purpose.
As part of the program, Shipt briefed students to design a new
digital product or service that solves the challenge of food waste
in America.
Huge (NYSE: IPG), the global experience agency, today celebrates
the first step in the career journeys for six graduates of Huge XD
School hailing from California, Washington, North Carolina,
Louisiana and New York. As the culmination of the 2021 virtual
educational program, the students responded to a real-world project
brief for Shipt, an American delivery service owned by Target
Corporation and a Huge-retained client, to design a new digital
product or service that solves the challenge of food waste in
America.
Founded as a paid design apprenticeship program in 2011 to
address the shortage of User Experience design talent in the
creative industry at the time, Huge XD School returned in 2021 with
a renewed equity-centered education purpose to increase the
participation of underrepresented identities in the industry led by
Huge’s Oakland office. With the re-launch of Huge XD School, the
agency sets out to bring fresh, underrepresented talent into the
design and marketing industries who otherwise may not have gained
access due to traditional barriers of entry. No educational
requirements at the collegiate or high school level need to be met;
no resumes, formal design training, portfolios or experience are
needed.
“As part of ‘Staying Accountable,’ Huge’s public commitment and
the company’s perpetual mindset, ‘Never Done,’ Huge is committed to
not only increasing the share of historically underrepresented
identities at all levels of the agency and being a workplace where
they thrive, but also helping to create a net positive impact on
representation in the industry overall,” said Kali Beyah, Global
Chief Talent Officer at Huge. “This effort starts with eliminating
the barrier to entry for young, aspiring creatives and giving them
a rich educational experience and the tools they need to succeed.
This is why Huge XD School is able to accomplish ‘Huge’ things: the
relaunch of Huge XD School adds to the pipeline with a class that’s
entirely made of people from historically underrepresented
identities.”
The 2021 Huge XD School students participated in a 10-week
program full of weekly courses that touched upon each stage of the
design process, a speaker series where industry experts weighed in
on topical issues, and a personal coach who provided shadowing
experience and weekly check-ins. As the last step of the program,
the students developed work in response to the brief from Shipt,
and pitched their solutions to the client to receive real feedback,
in an experience similar to day-to-day life at an agency.
"As a long-standing client partner to Huge, it was an honor to
participate in the 2021 Huge XD School program," said Shawn
Woznicki, Senior Director of Brand Design at Shipt. "We
full-heartedly support the agency's efforts to eliminate
traditional barriers to entry and increase representation in the
creative industry because it has a direct correlation client-side
too: the more inclusive the pitch rooms, the more inclusive the
ideas and the more inclusive the campaigns, helping us put our best
foot forward in a world that's more inclusive overall. Our team was
so impressed with the quality of work that the Huge XD School
students presented off the back of our brief, highlighting raw
talent, passion and focus that excites us for the next generation
of creatives. We are looking forward to working with the Huge XD
School graduates as they embark on their next professional
chapter."
Huge employees from Oakland and around the globe serve as the
teachers, speakers and coaches at Huge XD School, providing access
to Huge resources and imparting guidance and mentorship to make
this program as beneficial for students as possible. To date, Huge
XD School has graduated 105 students and seen graduates from the
program go on to work for brands including Huge, Google, Facebook,
Apple, Indeed, Slack, Vanguard and more.
“For the last ten years, Huge XD School has been a first-of-its
kind program that helps young, aspiring UX creatives jump start
their careers,” said Mark Manning, President of Huge Oakland, “This
year, we were able to relook at this pre-existing platform to drive
even more impact by challenging the idea that the problem with the
lack of diversity and representation in our industry is in the lack
of available talent. We are so excited to congratulate the 2021
graduating class of Huge XD School, and honored to welcome these
six rising creative stars into the fold as they start their career
journeys.”
Huge continues to double down on its public commitment ‘Staying
Accountable’ with the release of its 2021 diversity data, which saw
an increase in gender representation by +2% and race/ethnicity
representation by +4% over the last year, with 48% of new hires in
2021 being BIPOC and 59% being women. This month, Huge was awarded
No. 7 on the 2021 Fast Company’s Best Workplaces for Innovators
list, representing the agency’s passion for giving employees at all
levels the freedom to explore creative ideas that benefit the
business and community.
For more information about Huge, Huge XD School and our
commitment to ‘Staying Accountable’, please visit:
https://www.hugeinc.com/ and https://schools.hugeinc.com/1/
About Huge. Huge, part of Interpublic (IPG), is a global
experience agency made up of creatives, designers, technologists,
strategists, and data scientists. We help companies become a deeper
part of people’s lives by creating unified brand experiences that
people love. We work with clients such as Google, McDonald’s, FCA,
Brooks Running, P&G, and others, who are as committed to
shaping culture and defining the future as we are. Headquartered in
Brooklyn, we currently have more than 1,200 employees working
across 13 offices in North America, Latin America, Europe, and
Asia. For more info, visit us at hugeinc.com.
About Interpublic. Interpublic (NYSE: IPG)
(www.interpublic.com) is a values-based, data-fueled, and
creatively-driven provider of marketing solutions. Home to some of
the world’s best-known and most innovative communications
specialists, IPG global brands include: Acxiom, Craft, FCB,
FutureBrand, Golin, Huge, Initiative, Jack Morton, Kinesso, MAGNA,
Matterkind, McCann, Mediahub, Momentum, MRM, MullenLowe Group,
Octagon, R/GA, UM, Weber Shandwick and more. IPG is an S&P 500
company with net revenue of $8.06 billion in 2020.
About Shipt. Shipt brings the store to your door. Through
a community of Shipt Shoppers and a convenient app, Shipt provides
personal shopping and delivery and is available to 80% of
households in more than 5,000 U.S. cities. Shipt Shoppers go above
and beyond, communicating in real time about preferences and
substitutions. A curated marketplace of retailers, Shipt offers
access to a variety of stores and product categories including
fresh foods, household essentials, wellness products, office and
pet supplies. Shipt is an independently operated, wholly owned
subsidiary of Target Corp. Founded and headquartered in Birmingham,
Alabama, Shipt also maintains an office in San Francisco. For more
information, visit Shipt.com.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210817005745/en/
Molly Levine - Communications, Huge mlevine@hugeinc.com
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