Designing a Manifesto

This past September, I read the original First Things First Manifesto, published in 1964 by Ken Garland and signed by 20 others. In 2000, the First Things First Manifesto was updated to reflect the evolving role of graphic design (and designers) in our culture. This fall, as part of my graduate work at SCAD, I was charged with articulating my own vision and reason for being a graphic designer in the form of a personal design manifesto. A manifesto presents a vision and is a response to the current multifaceted cultural conditions of our time. This process of stating my own values and perspective on how I want to be a designer in this world was powerful. The resulting document is a work-in-progress, as it should be. After writing the text, I designed it into a book format. I imagined a new structure for the book, which starts as a 5” wide x 6” tall book. It unfolds out and up, as the pages get smaller and smaller. The illustrations are abstractions based on mycelium mushroom and fungi designed for block printing, but for now, they are in their original, digitally-designed form. Click here to view the book as a PDF in single pageI

As I wrote this post, I found the new, 2020-version of the First Things First Manifesto! I am inspired and energized to read this manifesto, finding commonalities in vision and values. I would love to hear your thoughts on any of these manifestos in the comments section below. Do you see a shared vision emerging today of how designers can serve all life on this planet?