a design manifesto |
We, the undersigned, are graphic designers, art directors and visual communicators who have been raised in a world in which the techniques and apparatus of advertising have persistently been presented to us as the most lucrative, effective and desirable use of our talents. Many design teachers and mentors promote this belief; the market rewards it; a tide of books and publications reinforces it. Encouraged in this direction, designers then apply their skill and imagination to sell dog biscuits, designer coffee, diamonds, detergents, hair gel, cigarettes, credit cards, sneakers, butt toners, light beer and heavy-duty recreational vehicles. Commercial work has always paid the bills, but many graphic designers have now let it become, in large measure, what graphic designers do. This, in turn, is how the world perceives design. The profession's time and energy is used up manufacturing demand for things that are inessential at best.Many of us have grown increasingly uncomfortable with this view of design. Designers who devote their efforts primarily to advertising, marketing and brand development are supporting, and implicitly endorsing, a mental environment so saturated with commercial messages that it is changing the very way citizen-consumers speak, think, feel, respond and interact. To some extent we are all helping draft a reductive and immeasurably harmful code of public discourse.There are pursuits more worthy of our problem-solving skills. Unprecedented environmental, social and cultural crises demand our attention. Many cultural interventions, social marketing campaigns, books, magazines, exhibitions, educational tools, television programs, films, charitable causes and other information design projects urgently require our expertise and help.We propose a reversal of priorities in favor of more useful, lasting and democratic forms of communication - a mindshift away from product marketing and toward the exploration and production of a new kind of meaning. The scope of debate is shrinking; it must expand. Consumerism is running uncontested; it must be challenged by other perspectives expressed, in part, through the visual languages and resources of design. In 1964, 22 visual communicators signed the original call for our skills to be put to worthwhile use. With the explosive growth of global commercial culture, their message has only grown more urgent. Today, we renew their manifesto in expectation that no more decades will pass before it is taken to heart. |
ID / TV works
KAMI . The Movie
KAMI . THE SERIES
Gol & Gincu Series | Identity
TV Tutor | Identity
Number Squad | Identity
Gol & Gincu Movie | Identity
PRINT works
Project Runway
3R Intern Search
Red Comm & Red Films
Sadiq and Co .
KAMI - Soundtrack
Breeze Padang Pintar
Red Comm + Red Films
Corporate folder
The Bird House
Goodbye Boys
3r
Amazon.com
Freedom Film Fest 2006
Red Films
6th EU Film Festival British Council
INPRINT British Council
Gol & Gincu
Freedom Film Fest 2005
A film by James Lee
Ho Yuhang's 'Sanctuary'
RAVEOLUSI Double CD
Malaysian Photography
3r & Kotex
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PRINT works *ngo*
P10 - What It Means to You
Take Back The Tech
APCwomen.org
Take Back The Tech
Sisters In Islam
Centre for Independent Journalism
IWRAW Asia Pacific
IWRAW Asia Pacific
OP -Cedaw for IWRAW Asia Pacific
OnSet graphics
Gol & Gincu The Series
SET designs
3R Respect Relax Respond
Shortcuts
123
Photography stills
On the web
Before We Fall In Love Again
Goodbye Boys
NST Life & Times - Lina Tan
PROJECTs
Malaysia Design Archive
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WEB works
GenARDIS
KAMI . The TV Series
Africa Women & ICT
Red Communications
Take Back the Tech
The Truly Loving Company
Goodbye Boys
3R Respect Relax Respond
AWAM
Red Films
Impian Illyana
Freedom Film Fest
123 Parenting Programme
Malaysian AIDS Foundation
IWRAW Asia Pacific
Gol & Gincu
Visits : Hungry Ghost Anthology
OTHERs
Apcwomen.org
3R All Women's Futsal Playoffs
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Based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia | Updated Sept 2008 | Archive here | ezrena (at) ezthetic.com | Kedai Runcit | Photoworks here