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Jacques H. Bastien

nappy - Beautiful, high-res photos of black and brown people

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nappy is a website dedicated to providing free, beautiful, high-res photography of black and brown people to creatives, startups, brands, and agencies. nappy makes it easy for companies to be purposeful about representation in their designs, presentations, and advertisements.

Features/bugs/roadmap:

nappy.co/features

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Kees Suijkerbuijk
Edit: I must explain why I earlier on called this concept "pure discrimination". While I personally don't think there's something wrong with the concept and promote equality where and whenever I can, the fact is that this concept would be called racist if it only represented white people. My goal was to start a discussion about the hypocrisy we're facing in todays media and public opinion. We live in a world where our color seems to define who we are. That's not my world. Black, white, yellow, red.. [your color], I don't care! We're human! And to quote Michael Jackson: I'm not gonna spend my life being a color"
Sam Ayres
@suijkerwerk Racism is negatively stereotyping someone for their racial background, this is not racist whatsoever.
Kees Suijkerbuijk
@sam_ayres Nope. Discrimination comes with racism. But more importantly: I want to show the hypocrisy we're facing now. It would be on CNN all day if there's a service with white people only.
Sam Ayres
@suijkerwerk So what you're saying is if this website doesn't have photos of every race there is.. in the world.. It's racist?
Jacques H. Bastien
Maker
@suijkerwerk thank you for your honesty, my man. Representation is not racism. It’s important for people of all walks of life to see people that look like them online and offline. So instead of people having to dig deep to find diverse subjects in stock photography, we created a medium to make those photos with black and brown subjects more easily accessible. This isn't saying anything negative about anyone else. This website's sole purpose is to highlight the beauty of people of color and make those photos available to the world... for free. @sam_ayres, you're the man! Thank you for your comments.
Sam Sexton
@suijkerwerk As many have pointed out, this isn't discrimination, it's a form of affirmative action. To quote the website nderstandingprejudice.org "The most effective way to cure society of exclusionary practices is to make special efforts at inclusion, which is exactly what affirmative action does. The logic of affirmative action is no different than the logic of treating a nutritional deficiency with vitamin supplements. For a healthy person, high doses of vitamin supplements may be unnecessary or even harmful, but for a person whose system is out of balance, supplements are an efficient way to restore the body's balance." I'd advise you read many of the articles on affirmative action and see if you still hold the same opinion.
Jacques H. Bastien
Maker
Update - we explain our name (below). Update #2 - Features, bugs, roadmap (below).. ----------- Hey, everyone! My name is Jacques and I'm one of the creators of nappy! For many of us who are in tech, media, or corporate America, images play a big role in our day-to-day. We’re constantly searching for and utilizing photos for presentations, UI mockups, display ads, etc. As a photographer and a UI/UX designer, I especially know this to be true. That's why I love and will always be a fan of platforms like @Unsplash and @Pexels— amazing photographers from all around the world gifting their photos to brands, small businesses, freelancers, etc. My team and I try to be very intentional about cultural representation in the work that we do at our mktg agency (http://boogie.co) and our influencer mgmt agency (http://shade.co). But when searching for things like 'coffee' or 'computers,’ it's always hard to find someone who looked like me in the search results. I drink coffee, I use computers, I play the guitar, I parkour, etc. Still, it's extremely difficult to find photos of people of color on many stock photography websites (free or not). We knew that we weren't the only ones who noticed the shortage of POC in stock photography; that's why we launched nappy. nappy is a resource for beautiful, high-res photos of black and brown people available for absolutely free. Our hope is to make it easier for you to be intentional about diversity and representation in your work. I'm available all day for additional questions. Ps. You all have already shared so many ways we can improve on nappy and we're very thankful for that! Our developers will be reviewing and implementing updates and changes as your suggestions roll in. F.A.Q: 1. @ebrahimkhalil - Hi. This is an important idea ... I do not get the name at all. Why? A: In the African American community, the word 'nappy' refers to thick, coarse hair. It’s one of those words that has been used to describe black hair for ages, and many times it can have a negative connotation. My hair was called nappy all throughout JHS and HS and though it didn't make me feel great at the time, I now realize it wasn't personal. Somehow, we've been taught from a very young age that our hair, our skin, or we as humans weren't beautiful. So, we wanted to reclaim the word, and connect it to beautiful images of black and brown people. In other words, it's okay that our hair is nappy. That's the beauty of it. ------ Thank you for sharing all of your feature ideas and bugs with us. We've created a page you can use to follow along. www.nappy.co/features
Ben Thompson
@jacqueshbastien Jacques — fantastic idea and execution. I really appreciate what you're doing here. Sorry to see the ignorance you're having to deal with, but you're handling it well. Bookmarked! 🙌
Jacques H. Bastien
Maker
@thebent thx Ben!
Matthew Boogaard
@jacqueshbastien Brilliant idea! Personally I think "nappy" hair is really cool and I'm totally jealous as I would love a fro! Not sure if you know that "nappy" is also what a diaper is called in British English.
Julie Chabin
Product Hunt
It's sometimes difficult to find good photographies of black and brown people, and as a consequence, they are not represented as they should online. I always try to be careful to show diversity with the websites I design, but it can be challenging. This initiative is truly appreciated. Thank you! Also, do you think a partnership with mainstream platforms like Unsplash would be possible? This way, those beautiful pictures could be available to people who aren't looking for them specifically.
Jacques H. Bastien
Maker
@syswarren Julie this is an amazing idea, thanks for sharing. This is NOT a business to us nor will it ever be about profits. Our only goal is to get this out to as many people as possible in hopes of increasing representation of POC in media. A partnership like that would only help us get to our goal. (Hope you're listening, Unsplash 😀)
Kees Suijkerbuijk

Great concept, but I'm more an inclusive kinda guy. Don't believe in separate worlds for different colors.

Pros:

It's unique

Cons:

This would be unacceptable if it was a service with only white people

Andy Shrinivas

Loved the idea, I hope you guys grow and include more scenarios. Will use this for sure!

Pros:

👏🏼 👏🏼 This service is necessary!

Cons:

Hey, there can be better names!

Ebrahim-Khalil Hassen
Write Invisible
Hi. This is an important idea and some excellent pictures. But, I do not get the name at all. Why?
Jacques H. Bastien
Maker
@ebrahimkhalil great question! The word 'nappy' refers to thick, coarse hair. It’s one of those words that has been used to describe black hair for ages, and many times it can have a negative connotation. My hair was called nappy all throughout JHS and HS and though it didn't make me feel great at the time, I now realize it wasn't personal. Somehow, we've been taught from a very young age that our hair, our skin, or we as humans weren't beautiful. So, we wanted to reclaim the word, and connect it to beautiful images of black and brown people. In other words, it's okay that our hair is nappy. That's the beauty of it.
Ebrahim-Khalil Hassen
Write Invisible
@jacqueshbastien - WOW! This is the story to tell. (maybe on your about page). I learned something.
Jacques H. Bastien
Maker
@ebrahimkhalil that means a lot! I should def expand our nappy.co/why page with the above 🤔
Nicholas Sheriff
Castle
@jacqueshbastien As a product designer for 10 years who's a minority Jacques this is the single most important offerings I have ever seen not just on PH but in the tech community as a whole, it is something I've been trying to advocate and have desired for all of these years! Man I could tell you some crazy stories man but I'm sure you have your own....actual depression working on projects because I can't even have representation of my FUCKIN self in my own freakin products man not just with clients. Hit me up anytime I'd love to see how I can help you and be apart of this in any way! This needs to be everywhere. Representation matters!
Jacques H. Bastien
Maker
@nicholassheriff appreciate you man! ✊🏾
Dun

Everyone love panda, I think this website should collect panda pictures too!

Or you are pure racism!

Pros:

Neat idea!

Cons:

This is pure racism, panda need to be on it too.

Nicholas Sheriff
Castle

This is simply outstanding!

Pros:

Give people of color representation without a loss in quality

Cons:

Needs more images tied to additional categories

Matthew Boyle
You should go for long tail market and have asians, whites and more in there. Way too niche at the moment.
Jacques H. Bastien
Maker
@matthewboyle25 appreciate the insights @Matthewboyle25! That makes perfect sense.
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