Friday 30 March 2012

Manifesto//Final Idea

Final idea:
I will produce a publication on design manifesto's using existing designer manifesto's from across the years.
I am going to create a timeline of manifesto's dating as far back as i can find to present. With these manifesto's i am going to pick out certain parts which i agree with/find interesting and analyse this within the time period it was made (why the designer made the point and how it is effected by the period of that time). The parts in which i pick out i will visualise in the style of graphic design in that period.

This i feel is more in keeping with the brief as it has more of a theory to it because i am analysing the content of the manifesto and then creating a visual design of this within the style of that period. It is also keeping the main point of my original idea which was to visualise existing parts of design manifesto's.

The content of this publication will demonstrate the differences in the manifesto's back in time to the ones present and show how they have changed over time, it will also be an inspirational publication for any graphic designer.




Manifesto//Presentation Feedback

Feedback:
In general my idea was good and explained how i wanted the aesthetics of the project to be, the content i explained works fine but needs more theory and context to it to forfill the brief properly.

- use movements in graphic design to visualise - modernism, postmodernism- doesnt have to just be designers
- find out what certain points of the manifesto i isolate mean by contacting the designer - relate this back to historic context
- do your own analyse of the manifesto, why i think it says this, what it means to me in todays world.
- historical analysis of manifesto
- look into background of when the manifesto was made and how the points within relate the world at that time - a timeline of manifestos

How i will apply to my idea:
I am still going to keep the idea of using designer's manifesto and the aspect of picking out certain parts which i agree with, but to link it into context, i am going to make it into a timeline of manifesto's, using ones from certain periods, (60s, 70s, 80s etc to present time) and of iconic designers of that time in graphic design. I can then analyse how this manifesto relates to the period of time.
This will also give me an aesthetic for visualising the parts of the manifesti.

Monday 26 March 2012

Manifesto//Steven Heller

Amongst all the visual manifesto's and designer manifesto's i have found i came across an article by Steven Heller a design critic, that was based on manifesto's.

Manifesto Wars
During the turbulent teens and cantankerous twenties artists’ manifestos were as common as weeds, and just as fast to sprout up from a groundswell of radical activity. Manifestos were statements of purpose, calls to action and weapons of mass obstruction.

Words were the lethal ammunition. Sometimes they were aimed with pinpoint intelligence, other times they sprayed the battlefield with rampant stupidity. Manifestos came in all degrees of simplicity or complexity. They were long or short depending on the writer’s proclivities. Some survived, others are long forgotten—and the better for it. All tried to make a mark.

Today manifestos are back. Artists who have decided it is their respective mission to save the world, or even those who have less ambitious goals, routinely turn first to a manifesto—a statement of principles—and then to their art forms to state how, why and where. As they were in the teens and twenties (and thirties and forties and fifties and sixties, etcetera), some manifestos are worth the paper they are written on, while others are not worthy of the trees they destroyed (perhaps a manifesto about manifestos is due).

Yet even the most worthy often have a hollow ring. No matter how smart the manifesto may be, words are empty without action to support them.

Therefore, the Ten Commandments—a manifesto by any other name—has some weight (not just as heavy stone tablets) because millions of people have more or less followed and sometimes violently acted out the “thou shalts and thou shalt nots” to the letter. Of course, this divine manifesto was actually created by men, and the Ten Commandments contain all the flaws that men had in those early biblical times. In other words, even a finely composed manifesto born of well–meaning sentiments is not always an exemplary one. Manifestos are by nature built on prejudice for or against something. They are also dictates to do something that someone else thinks important or necessary. Follow me because I am right is the implication of a manifesto—is it not?

But there is a genus of manifesto that is not just a commandment to follow or movement to join. The personal manifesto is not implicitly telling you or me what to do; it is tell you or me what the individual who wrote it believes. And if there is a chance that the ideas contained in the manifesto touch a chord in other individuals, then all the better. A personal manifesto is a declaration of principles, not an order to forge ahead, damn the torpedoes or change the world in a particular image.

The past ten years—let’s say since the turn of the twenty–first century, because the fin de siecle is always a moment when new things occur—had been a fertile period for personal manifestos, and particularly in art and design circles. Some of those who have issued such declarations call them “to–do–lists,” others are more high–falutin. Manifestos are everywhere in art and design books, spoken at conferences, shouted from the rooftops. The creators are telling anyone who listens: “This is what I am going to do, and perhaps you’d be happier doing it too!”

Sarcasm aside, a manifesto is a double–edged sword. It can articulate goals and desires in an honest and inspiring way. It can also be perceived as so much babble— pretense of the highest order—and must be ignored.

Does that mean a manifesto should be written in any “standard” manner to avoid critique and be pure of meaning? No! A true manifesto will make those who do not agree wince. That’s the point. Make a statement and then act upon them that does change something—whatever it may be. The most memorable manifestos have altered the way we think and do. A manifesto should be a declaration of war against complacency. Shit! That almost sounds like a manifesto.

The highlighted text is that part in which i agree with, the majority of this article makes sense's and is saying how manifesto's have come back round in the public and that more and more designers/companies are making a manifesto, but why? This article explains this.

Manifesto//The manifesto project

As i was searching the internet for manifesto's on design/designers i came across this website:
http://www.manifestoproject.it/
This is basically a a project on manifesto's that was set up by Tankboys and Cosimo Bizzarri.
About:
"To say that the end result is what counts is just not true. Especially in design. Rather, a good designer is more concerned with the process; that winding, potholed road he embarks upon every time he gets a new job."

“Manifesto.” is an ongoing project that leaves the final result to one side so as to focus on the creative process. It brings together under one roof the personal manifestos of some of today’s smartest and most renowned international designers.

Whilst some of these statements are very well known, others have been prepared exclusively for the project: some are programmatic pieces of writing, some are detailed work manuals, all are passionate tributes to graphic design, creativity and the design culture.
Taken from the website.

What it is
The exhibition gathers the professional beliefs—either serious or irreverent, unpublished or appositely prepared—of some of the smartest and most respected professionals of today’s design world. The quality of the content—and not the form—was the principle that guided our research, and only a few of the 21 manifestos contained in the exhibition are successions of bullet–point intentions. We prefer to think that even a postcard, a page, a book, or a seven–word–sentence can be a manifesto. The content of each manifesto differs quite drastically from the other. Some speak of grids and typography, others of coffee breaks and car drives, others of being shy or mad. They are all, in our opinion, fervent declarations of love towards design.

Seeing this was where i got the idea of using designers manifesto's/manifestos on design. The majority of the manifesto from designers that i have gathered together have been from this project, so that has helped me loads in finding them. 








Manifesto//visual design manifesto's

From various design websites and blogs i found design manifesto's that are visually designed. This is the aspect in which i want to do for mine, so finding these and using them as inspiration for my own will be good for me.


I like this style of working especially for the manifesto, i think it splits the poster up well by separating the page for each point of them manifesto, just shows you can create something interesting just using type!


This is a manifesto design by Steven Acre, this is another manifesto about design, but i liked this because of the way it is displayed. The design has been screen printed onto a piece of wood, which i think is a really interesting way to do this, could potentially be an option for me to experiment with



This is the design of 'obsessions make my life worse and my work better' which was listed in the previous post from one of the designers i have looked at. This manifesto/quote was created by using 1 euro coin and done in a public area. Again another interesting way to display the information, not something that i would personally do, but shows how you can be creative in the way in which the information is displayed.

Verity Davis - Manifesto
Visually express how you see the world of contemporary graphic design snd/ or where you would like it to be.
Craft has been a very important part of my development as a designer this past year. It communicates a considered almost emotive approach given to each and every brief. Craft is not only learning new skills. It is the application of devotion to your subject







I decided to take a look on the behance network to find some more visual manifesto's, the majority of them are on design but a few aren't but are linked back to anyway, so its all relevant to me.




A manifesto based on why the designer started graphic design in the first place






A manifesto on stealing designers work










A project that takes a lighthearted look at some of the failings of the design industry, many of which are more relevant than ever moving into the digital future...




The Invisibility of Graphic Design


What good design is








Sustainable design manifesto

Even though all these manifesto here are design based and i may not be doing it specifically on design i like the visuals of it all, and how you can create design from the manifesto to make it more design based.

Manifesto//muro-buro

Whilst looking for information and visual work for my manifesto project i came across some work Muro-Buro has done. Ive been looking at this designer for a while now as i really like the style in which he works and as i was looking through his site came across a project he had done with Northumbria School of Design on Manifesto's.