Overview
Compose YOUR manifesto in the style of of past artists, designers, and innovators. This exercise will help you to start thinking about what matters to you and why; what drives you; how you want to contribute to the world. Be as poetic, abstract, or passionate as you want.
Time
5 minutes mind mapping, 10 minutes of writing. 10 minutes of sharing
Instructions:
- For inspiration, review manifestos from the past or search for your own manifesto examples.
- Start by creating a free-association mind map to hone in on the things that drive you. This will also give you a selection of words to draw from.
- Next use short declarative statements in a list (or whatever form that works for you) to state your “demands” or the “pillars” of your manifesto.
- Define the philosophy, intentions, and ideologies you believe in.
- State the social, political, and ethical ideas that are important to you.
- Identify the technological concerns that you believe we must embrace or reject.
- Feel free to re-imagine passages from other manifestos.
- If you prefer to create an illustrated or video manifesto, please do!
Instructor Notes / Suggestions
- Provide students with manifesto resources for inspiration.
- Ask students to post their manifesto in a shared digital space to allow for discussion and feedback.
- Consider collecting your students’ manifestos and assemble in a booklet or zine, so they have a physical collection to keep.
- Create a class manifesto. Review the individual manifestos as a group, select ideas that overlap and assemble into shared manifesto.
Categories
Passion, confidence, voice, pride
Contributor
Profs. George Larkins & Jenna Spevack
Communication Design Department
City Tech – CUNY
Image Source
“The Self-Repair Manifesto from ifixit.com ‘If you can’t fix it, you don’t own it’. Hear, hear!” by dullhunk is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
