MANIFESTO - Starting point
I started this project by thinking about my own principles as a designer and what rules I tend to work by. I attempted to brainstorm my ideas by quickly writing as much as I could and getting all of my thoughts down onto paper without giving too much thought to any of them. Then I was able to go back and look at what I had written objectively. Here are some of the ideas that I had written down, This doesn’t flow very well and some of it doesn’t make sense but I was able to use this as the basis for forming my final manifesto.
The following is a list of thoughts, ideas and principles that I have compiled during my time as a graphic designer. This is all advice I give to myself, not that I always follow it. I would love to have a self-written bible of clearly defined design dos and don’ts that I can live by, but the truth is I am still learning and still making mistakes and I really have no business telling anyone what design should or shouldn’t be.
Internal documents should be designed as nicely as everything else.
Forms should be fun to fill in.
Gradients are horrible.
Define the outcome at the beginning.
Be clear on what the outcome is right away. Define it, make sense of it and don’t forget it. What are you trying to do? To inform? To entertain? To inspire? This must be the justification for every decision you make along the way.
Everything: Needs to have a reason for being there.
“Because it looks nice!” is not a reason for something being there. Every design decision you make, even the smallest one, is a statement and a step towards your outcome.
Everything: must line up to something else.
100% Black: Don’t use it
Use a grid for everything.
Grids are there to help you do everything. Start every design by creating one. Stick to it to make sense of your content and only break it to make a statement.
Colours are as useful as they are decorative.
Just like people, every colour has a personality and you need to make sure to use the right one in the right situation. Colours are also multi-functional. They can often do the same job as numbers, letters, or anything used to label something.
You don’t need a client. If no one will give you a project, invent one.
Design is about problem solving.
Good design should make sense of the complicated.
Design should help people.
Don’t forget that graphic design can change the world.
Don’t be afraid to be ‘boring’.
Just like people, every design has a personality. A successful design doesn’t always mean an entertaining one.
This comes across via your design decisions as tone and voice. Some designs serve a single purpose, to inform rather than entertain. And if this is the case
Don’t inject personality into a design that doesn’t need it. Some designs serve a single purpose, to inform rather than entertain. A design can still have tone and voice without having a personality forced into it.
Everyone can draw
Art is for you. Design is for everyone else.
Word hard to make it look easy.
More design often looks like less design. Don’t be fooled.
You can learn just as much from bad design as you can from good design.
Images have their own voices and should speak for themselves.
Choose paper very wisely.
You can’t do everything. Collaborate with people who can.
Contrast is King
Mix organic and man-made. Combine paper stocks. Serif, Sans Serif. Big / small etc etc. One of the best ways to highlight something is to compare it to its opposite.
Design for everyone, not just for designers.
If space needs to be filled, instead of photos, illustrations or text, make use of patterns.
Where possible, don’t design in A(X) formats.
Be confident
Present solutions not options.
Get as much information (ammo) as possible before starting a project.
Design Ethically
It’s okay to make money from design for a product or service that you don’t believe in, but it is never ok to make money from design for something that you oppose.
Learn from your mistakes.
It’s easy to want to give up after making a mistake. Some mistakes may seem insignificant. Some mistakes are expensive, others are embarrassing but all of them are important! Remember them all and don’t make them again.
Only work to facilitate fun.
Don’t use scissors
Anything you can do with scissors you can do better with a scalpel
Enjoy working.
This is the most important part of the manifesto. Being a designer is supposed to be fun. It’s a job that sounds fun. Of course, it isn’t always. You may not enjoy every second of your work, but look at the big picture and make sure that you enjoy your career.