Karl Marx had one. The Unibomber had one. When Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence, he wrote the manifesto that defined the American Revolution. In 1909, F. T. Marinetti’s Futurist Manifesto launched the idea of art as a branded public enterprise.
Designers seem especially drawn to manifestos. A well-written manifesto is like a well-designed product. It communicates directly, it is broken into functional parts, and it has elements of poetry and surprise. And drafting one is more like writing an ad than a novel.
Bruce Sterling’s “Manifesto of January 3, 2000” helped galvanize the contemporary green movement. In addition to demanding the overhaul of all social, political, and military systems, Sterling pushed designers to create”intensely glamorous environmentally sound products; entirely new objects of entirely new materials; replacing material substance with information; a new relationship between the cybernetic and the material.” (iPhone, anyone?) More recently, Emily Pilloton’s “(Anti) Manifesto: A Call to Action for Humanitarian (Product) Design” uses snappy subject headings to draw readers in and give them something to remember: “Taking the ‘product’ out of product design.” “Activism over academics.” “Design is the new micro-loan.”
Ulla-Maaria Mutanen’s “Draft Craft Manifesto” talks about the social phenomena that result from the craft impulse: “Learning techniques brings people together. This creates online and offline communities of practice.” “Craft-oriented people seek opportunities to discover interesting things and meet their makers. This creates marketplaces.”
Mutanen’s manifesto also talks about the importance of tools to crafting—not just physical tools like needles and band saws, but intellectual tools like recipes and tutorials. A manifesto is, in the end, a tool. It helps the writer articulate a point of view, shaping and compressing theories and beliefs into an essential and directed form, and it helps readers discover their own position. It’s a tool that anyone can make, share, and use. EL & JL
