Design Manifesto QBN Census
Out of context: Reply #15
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- Josev0
Here are some good quotes on the manifesto from the Design Observer and Creative review:
Michael Beirut: "That's very much at the heart of it. When I first read First Things First [the 1964 manifesto calling on designers to use their skills for more worthy pursuits, which was reissued in 1999], I was reminded of when sometimes, when a crime's committed, people will confess to it even though they didn't do it because they're dying for the attention. Part of FTF sort of reminded me of that - designers are so eager to think they are manipulating the whole world and they're dying to confess. It's very empowering to think that you can manipulate the whole world but speaking as a working designer there aren't too many moments in the day when I think that I possess that power."
Michael Beirut: "The main message of FTF was that designers should think about what they're doing, and I think there's much evidence that the level of discussion of all kinds has been transformed because of it. If I had a big complaint I would say that there is an alternate reading of FTF where it where it seems to suggest that the core of society - the mass market - be abandoned by designers in favour of the frills. What I dislike is the idea that either you can sell out or you can be marginalised and there's nothing in between: you can either do cute things that no one will notice and will have no effect on the world or you can sell out and put out shit that will be reproduced in the billions and end up in every landfill on earth. There's got to be some route in between which will be found by smart people who are engaged with larger issues in the world. In New York after 9/ll a lot of people were thinking what can I do as a graphic designer to help? I hate to say it but posters weren't really the answer at that time: a cool T-shirt wasn't going to ameliorate pain or address the root causes of that event. There is a way for designers to get involved but it requires engagement with much bigger ideas in the world and not to think that the limit of your scope is to figure out how you make the T-shirt. I am concerned by our eagerness to retreat to the margins where we can work undisturbed - and unnoticed."