Today for PP we looked at some examples of manifesto's from designers which gave us a sneak peek and ideas for Studio Brief 3 of this module. To look at the manifesto examples, we went to www.manifestoproject.it . Looking through the website I recognise some of the works that were there such as The Vignelli Canon. I've actually read this manifesto last year as part of my studio practice, mostly for typography purposes, however as I read through the canon I've learnt a much broader understanding of the different aspects that is considered when designing. Though the canon itself was quite a long read, I actually quite enjoyed reading it - though it is quite a modernist manifesto I did agree with the ideas that Vignelli has put forward but at the same time I also think that they could be applied to broader aspects and not necessarily focused on being traditional but instead also apply some expressive and individual approach.
Looking through the manifesto's in the website, I found some manifesto's that are quite similar in terms of their layout and one's which I also actually quite liked.
- The Cult of Done Manifesto (Bre Pettis & Kio Stark)& The Edenspierkermann Manifesto (Edenspierkermann)
Both these manifesto's had the same manifesto layout consisting of 10 short sentences. I really liked this layout at it effectively summarises their points and gets straight to the point which can be understood very easily and stick to your head quickly. I particularly liked The Cult of Done Manifesto, as I feel like the statements that they've wrote down are things that I often think about as well so it impacted me and made me agree to the points that they said. Particularly, #4; for me I feel like for most of the ideas that I've conducted I feel like I didn't know where the actual idea will go, however I went with the flow of development of the idea anyways to see where it will lead me. Instead of, halting the idea which I didn't feel was adequate I went with it and saw through the results which in turn helped me evaluate the advantages and disadvantages which will help me develop the idea further. Reading through the Edenspierkermann manifesto I felt like it was a good way of showing their ethos and what they what to achieve. It made me think that maybe I need to start thinking about the kind of principles and ethos I'd want to have in my own practice as well as recognise what I'm good at and what I struggle at in order to gain confidence in my own practice.
- The Pesto Manifesto (Peter Nowogrodzki)
The way this manifesto was fresh and fun which I enjoyed. Using another mean of getting across your message in a familiar setting e.g. a recipe in some way gets rid of all the seriousness and formalities of the manifesto and in turn make it sound more approachable and relatable for the readers, not to mention it's also more interesting and new to read. Using references to food is also a good way to make the readers understand the message better. Furthermore, I thought maybe when I start thinking about how I'm going to write my own manifesto, maybe I could approach it in a similar way- maybe could write it as a poem? a play? but something not too complicated that will completely dilute the message I'm trying to get across.
Personal Task:
My personal manifesto suggestions?
- Don't procrastinate
- Stop stressing about being stressed because it's gonna make you even more stressed.
- Stop working after 9pm.
- PLAN PLAN PLAN
- Home time is Me time.
- Always ask questions, question questions.
*These are some of the manifesto points that I've made for myself, it's also a way for me to encourage myself and to keep my self on track. In addition, I'm someone who liked to have a mental plan in my head of what I need to do in a week at least, even though it may just be a rough idea. It also takes me a long time to do things therefore planning it out in my head way ahead in time kind of prepares me to actually do them on the time/days/week that I want to do them. I also like to set myself boundaries between uni and 'me' time, as I know myself that it's nearly impossible for me to do work at home, it's necessary for me to tell myself to do certain things at uni rather than at home. In relation to this, I also give myself rules and restrict myself of doing things at certain times, in order to manage my time wisely e.g. only doing PPP work during PPP days. And, because of these rules I'm able to properly have my 'me' time as it separates my work and social life - and it's not necessarily that my social life doesn't correlate with my design life anyways, as the things I do outside of uni also evolve around design in a way, as design is everywhere. I subconsciously think about design but at the same time I know that at that time I am prioritising my social time, which I think help balances my life out between the two and minimises the stress that I feel.
Group Task:
Overall group manifesto? How can we relate this to Level 5 Graphic Design?
- Be responsible
- Remember you have a life outside the studio
- Draw the line between home and work
- Take breaks often
- Go at your own pace and don't think about other people.
* Uni isn't open 24/7, so neither should we :)
*Ultimately, we choose 'Uni isn't open 24/7, so neither should we'. This manifesto is very similar to the manifesto that I've written for myself and relate to a lot. I think that we do need our time for ourselves to process everything that is happening and balances different aspects of our lives so that we don't get as stressed as much. In addition, I also think that by doing this this will make us produce better quality work and work that we are more satisfied and confident with in the future.
Other groups Manifesto's:
- "An idea shared is an idea doubled" - I really liked this manifesto as it's quick and simple. You don't need further explanation in order to understand the message that they are trying to relay. In addition, it's also very relevant to our practice as graphic designers and having communication and conversations in order to create better quality work should be done more often by use e.g. setting up our own crits or going around asking more people for feedback.
- "Blood, sweat and tears" - I didn't really get this manifesto that well as I feel like their summary is quite vague; just like what someone said from another group, the sentence could be interpreted in other ways ad may not be understood at ones. Having the rest of the explanation with the sentence would work much better, however, it may make it too word heavy, perhaps re wording the message could work just as well, if not even better?
- "Feedback should be constructive not offensive." - This message is also quite relatable and something that most of us experience especially in this course. Although, I do feel like we do have that unspoken border or where it's appropriate and where it gets offensive as we work in the same field and have the same mindset in a way. However, all of us have individual opinions of what we find offensive and constructive therefore in a way I think it may be how us as individual take on someone's opinion on our work. In addition, as mentioned by Orlando before, our own opinions on our work may also affect how we'd like to be seen by people e.g. being confident about the work and being confident on showing it to people and okay with them ripping it apart and you taking it in as constructive criticism and vice versa.
- "Experiment more..." - I also liked this group's manifesto; although I forgot to get their full manifesto. IN contrast to the other groups where maybe it didn't need the extra summarisation. This groups manifesto sounded more effective and believable for me with the extra text as in a way it's a kind of validation for us that we are doing great work. It also elicits empathy for us and encourages us to work harder from what we are already doing.
Thoughts & Reflections:
Overall, I really enjoyed today's PP lecture and was very fruitful in terms of the ideas that we've gathered for the course manifesto as well as our own. Also, looking at existing manifesto has given me an idea and a sense of how I could also relay my own manifesto and ethos in the most effective way possible which communicate to people as well as represent me fully. Although, we did this lecture really early compared to when we're actually going to do Studio Brief three, I think that it's great that we're ding this now because it's given us a head start to start maybe thinking about our own principles and ethos for our own personal practices as graphic designers.
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