The Manual Manifesto

Graphic design and art is different, yes we’ve heard enough.

Design is universal | Art is personal

Design is about rules | Art is freedom

Design is everywhere | Art is exclusive

You, designers, aren’t you jealous?

“No,” You say. “Design is efficient, more informative, and somehow, more useful. We’re proud to be designers, we sound more educated, our works are cleaner, we sound more modern, designers sounds sophisticated,”

Okay, proud designers, yes you’re (or you sound) intellectual, you solve problems, you are creative, yada yada yada but do you have your identity? Do your works reflect you? Do people see you in your design?

Now it’s the time to STEAL something from the so called- less sophisticated-artists, without losing one thing we’re always proud of (or have to hold), the principles of design.

Personal Touch. The Manual Manifesto.

Less Digital, More You.

Learn from the artists.

The imperfection of the lines reflects the character.

The texture and the brush strokes can’t be imitated.

The colors blend uniquely, reflects the mood.

Looking at the artworks means looking at the artist.

The style is there

The personality is there

The identity is there

Computer won’t give you the same result.

Pen tool produces perfect lines. Stiff boring perfect lines.

Everyone can read Helvetica. Everyone can type in Helvetica. What’s so special about it?

Gradient tools gives you smooth transitions. Ask the colour pickler tool, they’ll tell you how to achieve it. And now everyone can do it.

It’s like playing a fighting video game. You’re just moving the characters with your joystick.

It’s not totally you. You’re just instructing the computer through the cursor.

People say you have nice handwriting? Be proud, no one can imitate it. People can read it clearly.

People say you have broken handwriting? Be prouder, they’re even harder to imitate. And maybe it’s only you can read it. Exclusive. Great.

Great designers don’t play safe; breaking the boundaries of mediums and methods allows a new exciting development in the design industry.

The computer and the design softwares are great inventions. They give efficiency, in terms of time, practicality, and efforts. Graphic designers nowadays praise them, too much.

Yes they help, but not too much,

It’s not the answer to a great design.

The source of idea is not the CPU. It’s your brain.

The idea doesn’t come from the processor. It comes from your experience, imagination, memories, things around you, things you learn from the world, things life teach you.

Digital is fiction, while creative minds work in real life. Great designers explore intensively with space, materials, everyday objects and its surroundings,

To us digital is not an enemy. We completely understand the importance of being digitally literate. We know the world demands universality. The clients. The school. The lecturers. But we give personal touch to every design works, saving our identities.

Digital is like a medicine, you need it sometimes, but if it’s taken too much, or to long it kills you. It kills your identity. Press down the usage, to the minimum level.

They do help. But we refuse to depend on it.

Now look around. Look at your classmates. Look at the school. Think about how many designers will get outta school every year. All you see is designers. In order to survive, to stand among others, what you can do is be different. Be seen, be spotted.

A great design is the one that not only works, but a design that is a statement of identity. A great design shouldn’t be boring, taking risks while still keeping the principles of design in order to define a new form of interesting creations.

We are young, we are the designers, we are the future of design industry. We stand out among others. We are not going to be boring. We won’t let the world be boring.

We are Manual ID.

We put ourselves in our works.

We express.

We’re different.

We’re ourselves.