manifesto
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manifesto -
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This piece of text started as a point-form list on google docs in September 2021 and became the foundation that I would build on for the next 8 months. I was searching for a subject to base my project around and I was interested in exploring anti-capitalist design and living slowly. As I researched, I was finding it harder and harder to believe that design and capitalism could even be separated. The nature of design* is just inherently capitalistic. At this point, I was feeling stuck. I thought, if design and capitalism cant be separated, then I don't want to be a designer. So I made a list, a list of all the things I hate about design. Then I expanded on all of those points, making what you see here.
This project was inspired by the Bo Burnham special "INSIDE" that had recently come out. I wanted to make a critique of my field through the medium of my field and do so in a humorous way. For most of my university projects, I didn't take them very seriously in their themes. I made a flat-earth conspiracy magazine, a protest against life hacks and a support group for internet trolls called DIC (dead internet community). I have never really enjoyed making serious things (probably something I should unpack with a therapist) and I felt it would be disingenuous for me to change that up for this final project.
Although this project uses humour as a tool, it is not a joke. I fully believe in everything I am saying.
*throughout a lot of this project I mention design, I am talking mostly about graphic design as that I what is relevant to me but I wanted to not specify each time because I found that in so many texts like this, that talk about critical and speculative design, they too only day design but are referring to industrial design. I find that extremely annoying, so I did the same thing