Biography of Timothy Bardlavens

Timothy Bardlavens was born in Greensboro, North Carolina but raised in Colombia NC. Bardlavens belittles his start as just being a gay black boy from the South and going to a state school no one has heard about, Coastal Carolina University. Bardlavens started as an English major. He wanted to become a Chief and Editor for Jet Magazine since it was the “blackest magazine” he could think of. Though he believed that if he wanted to get into the magazine industry, he should learn a little bit about how to design the layout, so he started minoring in graphic design. Later on, he started designing a few posters for the school. Then, it turned into a full-time job. This is when he decided to switch over completely to graphic design.

Since Bardlavens switched over late to graphic design, he did not believe his visual design skills were up to par with the other students. Though his strength was critiquing, which he believed placed him on a similar level-ground as the other students. Much so that they would even ask him for advice.

After graduating, he got a job at a trophy manufacturing company and did some freelance design work on the side. After getting fired from the trophy company, he worked in retail for some years. That is where he met a friend who was looking for someone to create branding for his company and design his website. Using this experience, he was able to get a design job at a dental company. He worked there for a few years and hated it. Not only was he the only designer there but he was also one of the few black people at the company. He learned that in order to survive in the corporate world, he had to put on a second persona as a black man. He could never be in a mood; he always had to have a fake smile on and act like everything was fine or else they would perceive him as angry and aggressive. He was tired of this toxic work environment so he decided to leave with no exact plan.

Bardlavens was not born with much, so he did not just want to survive; he wanted to be successful. He knew that there were no real design opportunities for him in the South so he applied for hundreds of jobs around the country. He was applying every day, sleeping at his sister and grandma’s couch, and was beginning to panic. Thankfully Capital One called him back six weeks later. They offered to fly him out for an interview. He ended up nailing the interview and got a job offer. He worked there for around a year and a half until he felt like he wanted to progress in his career. He had heard about User Experience Design and was interested in how user-centered it was—getting to know the emotion and reactions of people—so he took one intensive user experience course at Capital One. This was also around the time where he was learning that being unapologetically his black self allowed him to connect with people in a more meaningful way.

Bardlavens quit Capital One and connected with a recruiter who offered another position. Bardlavens had only been working at the company for a few months when he got offered another job at Microsoft. He worked at Microsoft for two years as a Senior Product Design Manager. Since then, he has worked at other big companies, such as Zillow and Facebook, co-founded two programs: Design + Diversity and &Design, which help underrepresented groups of people in design by getting them and their community out into the industry. He has also given talks at Adobe, Microsoft, Capital One, Seattle Design Week, etc., about diversity and inclusion in the workplace.

There have been multiple times Bardlavens has doubted himself and his abilities, as a black designer. For example, on his way to his job at Capital One, the job after that, and Microsoft, he had impostor’s syndrome. He did not believe in his skills; he believed that he oversold himself, he was going to disappoint them and get instantly fired. That did not end up happening. He was basically getting begged to stay at Microsoft when he was thinking about leaving. I really loved his story. He fights for the inclusivity of Black, Indigenous, and LatinX representation in the design field and as a minority, was able to successfully chase after his dreams. This has inspired me to keep on pushing for my goals.

Work Cited

Bardlavens, Timothy. “Thinker: Leader: Doer.” Bardlavens, Bardlavens, www.bardlavens.com/.

Hall, Chad P. “Yr04, Ep30 :: Timothy Bardlavens on Breaking Barriers.” This Is Design School, This Is Design School, 22 Apr. 2019, www.thisisdesign.school/timothy-bardlavens/.

“Timothy Bardlavens Bio.” General Assembly, General Assembly, generalassemb.ly/instructors/timothy-bardlavens/19643.