Seminar Task: Bridging theory and Practice - Manifesto Task

Design Manifesto 

‘An idea that is not dangerous is unworthy of being called an idea’. Oscar Wilde (1981)

During the lecture we were introduced to design manifestos. A manifesto is a published verbal declaration of the intentions, motives, or views of the issuer, be it an individual, group, political party or government. A manifesto either accepts a previously published opinion or public consensus, or promotes a new idea with prescriptive notions for carrying out changes the author believes should be made. It often is political or artistic in nature, but may present an individual's life stance.

Referring back to Daniel Eatock, Eatock created his own conceptual design manifesto, It consisted of:
  • Begin with ideas
  • Embrace chance
  • Celebrate coincidence 
  • Ad-Lib and make things up
  • Eliminate superfluous elements
  • Subvert expectation
  • Make something difficult look easy
  • Be first to last
  • Believe complex ideas can produce simple things
  • Trust the process 
  • Allow concepts to determine form
  • Reduce material and production to their essence
  • Sustain the integrity of an idea
  • Propose honesty as a solution
I found this manifesto to be quite inspiring because the points that Eatock created were solid and relevant, his manifesto contained points that I agree on such as "Embrace chance" and "Allow concepts to determine form".

First things First

Written in 1963 and published in 1964 by Ken Garland along with 20 other designers, photographers and students, the manifesto was a reaction to the staunch society of 1960s Britain and called for a return to a humanist aspect of design. It lashed out against the fast-paced and often trivial productions of mainstream advertising, calling them trivial and time-consuming. Its solution was to focus efforts of design on education and public service tasks that promoted the betterment of society. The manifesto was quick to reach a wide audience through the media – it was picked up by The Guardian which led to a TV appearance by Garland on a BBC news program and its subsequent publication in a variety of journals, magazines and newspapers. It rallied against the consumerist culture that was purely concerned with buying and selling things and tried to highlight a Humanist dimension to graphic design theory. It was later updated and republished with a new group of signatories as the First Things First 2000, and then the 2014 manifestos. 

Below is the first things first 2000 manifesto. During the seminar after the lecture we were provided with a task to examine and  create our own manifesto inspired by both First Things First, and Daniel Eatock's manifesto.


At the beginning of the seminar we were set a short activity to Write down a word or sentence to sum up what a piece of work I have made – or would like to make – is/was about. The sentence I created for this was 'To experiment the possibilities of deconstructing media to form new art' This refers to my interest in glitch art work and creating designs from imperfection.    

Afterwards, the task was to create a Personal Manifesto inspired by First Things First and Daniel Eatock's manifesto. Admittedly I had some difficulty examining and coming up with my very own manifesto, but I eventually came up with nine points that I consider to be relative outlook for myself as a graphic designer. Those points were.

  • Experiment with Ideas
  • Think outside the box
  • Provide evidence and connection 
  • Not to underestermate
  • Explore complex ideas and procedures
  • Expect failure when success is assured 
  • Develop concept regardless of initial doubts
  • Never abandon ideas that deter progress
  • Converge with clients

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