Maurice Cherry: Revision Path creator on why attention isn’t impact

For eleven years, Maurice Cherry made a weekly podcast called Revision Path showcasing Black designers from around the world. He recorded more than 500 episodes with designers on six continents and built a community around the show. Find bonus content and more on our Substack: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/maurice-cherry-revision-path-creator In 2019, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture added eleven episodes to its permanent archives. And in 2025 the Eames Institute named him to its Curious 100. Maurice never went to design school. He wanted to study English, but a STEM scholarship put him in computer science at Morehouse, where an advisor tol him the internet was a fad. He switched to math, graduated a semester early, and taught himself Photoshop from books he read in the aisles of a nearby Barnes & Noble. Years later, he was running his own studio with real clients and a payroll, and people still told him he wasn’t a real designer. So in 2013 he started Revision Path to show the work Black designers were doing. We talk about growing up in Selma, Alabama, where civil rights history is part of the everyday landscape; what a math degree taught him about solving problems; and why Revision Path ultimately ended. Maurice explains how AI is speeding up problems the design industry always had, including the shrinking junior role, and argues that the modern designer has outgrown traditional design organizations. Bio Maurice Cherry is a designer, podcast producer, and commercial voice actor. From 2013 to 2024, he hosted Revision Path, a weekly podcast featuring Black designers from around the world. Eleven episodes are in the permanent archives of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. He also founded the Black Weblog Awards and ran the design studio Lunch. A math graduate of Morehouse College, he was named to the Eames Institute’s Curious 100 in 2025. Today he consults on podcasts and writes essays at mauricecherry.com. Show notes mauricecherry.com blog.mauricecherry.com Maurice Cherry linkedin.com/in/mauricecherry mauricecherry.com/speaking W.E.B. Du Bois charts and infographics W. E. B. Du Bois’s Data Portraits Quilts of Gee’s Bend Whitney Robinson on Revision Path Youth HBO series Meditations for Men Who Do Too Much Books & Publications The Black Experience in Design: Identity, Expression & Reflection (2022) Extra Bold (2021) *** Premium Episodes on Design Better This ad-supported episode is available to everyone. If you’d like to hear it ad-free, upgrade to our premium subscription. We’ve launched a private Slack workspace…join now to connect with designers, product leaders & creative practitioners in our community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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