Questions / Prompts

  • Consider if and how these manifestos addressed the concepts of authorship/ownership, universal systems of communication, and social/political engagement.
  • What common views do these artists/designers share, and where might they disagree?
  • Which elements of these texts remain relevant for the present, and which elements are problematic? 
  • How has the communication process changed since the early 20th Century, specifically with regard to “feedback” and “noise”?

F.T. Marinetti, “Manifesto of Futurism”; Aleksandr Rodchenko, “Who We Are: Manifesto of the Constructivist Group”; and El Lissitzky, “Our Book” Graphic Design Theory: Readings From the Field by Helen Armstrong on pages 19-31. 

Authorship was addressed in the manifestos by encouraging unique styles and detaching them from art, as well as by talking about bringing actual change to society and the world with design. They viewed the world from a different perspective, making them feel the need to take different approaches. All this leads to how they intended to take part in political engagement and having social influences. That design should influence people and have a real impact.

With the changes influenced by technology, F.T. Marinetti and Aleksandr Rodchenko share common ideas for pushing the boundaries and using technology as a tool, “we rejoice at the new media that technology has placed at our disposal.” How they went about pushing those boundaries with their own unique styles is what sets them apart. Some points made in F.T. Marinetti, however, could be problematic because they come off as immoral for glorifying destruction and getting rid of the past completely instead of learning from it to do better.

Universality in terms of shared or collaborative work, templating, etc., is nothing new to today’s designers as they continue practicing them and even enhancing or finding new ways to do so. The relevancy of this text to contemporary design is the continuation of pushing the boundaries and still using technology as a tool. Regardless of the pushbacks that some designers receive from an audience and even the criticisms from the industry itself, they do not allow such noise to limit their vision for design. With the changes influenced by today’s technology and all its advances since the 20th century, these designers know that it is only a matter of time that the industry will take a big shift, therefore they are daring to take their first leap.

Annotation Links:

Collotype definition

Meaning of dematerialization in context