"Design For Impermanence: Paradoxical idea – designers should be designing for an eco-system in which everything is recycled into everything else, not for permanence"
In his Masters Thesis, "The Paradox of Weakness: Embracing Vulnerability in Product Design," my student Robert Blinn argues that we are the only species who designs for permanence—for longevity—rather than for an ecosystem in which everything is recycled into everything else. Designers are complicit in this over-engineering of everything we produce (we are terrified of, and often legally risk-averse to, failure), but it is patently obvious that our ways and means are completely antithetical to how planet earth manufactures, tools, and recycles things. We choose inorganic materials precisely because biological organisms cannot consume them, while the natural world uses the same building blocks over and over again. It is indeed Cradle-to-Cradle or cradle-to-grave, I'm afraid.
I found this manifesto by Allan Chochinov on industrial and product design very interesting as it focused on the concept of sustainability. I found it particularly relevant to graphic design as is often seen as something that rarely has long term permanence. In particular the area of packaging design, which graphic design for a short term lifestyle, however I am particularly interested in investigating how packaging can have other uses, be more able to be recycled and packaging that serves a primary function rather than packaging just for packaging sake.
The Laws Of Simplicity - John Maeda
"Differences: Simplicity and complexity need each other"
1. Reduce: The simplest way to achieve simplicity is through thoughtful reduction.
2. Organize: Organization makes a system of many appear fewer.
3. Time: Savings in time feel like simplicity.
4. Learn. Knowledge makes everything simpler.
5. Differences: Simplicity and complexity need each other.
6. Context: What lies in the periphery of simplicity is definitely not peripheral.
7. Emotion: More emotions are better than less.
8. Trust: In simplicity we trust.
9. Failure: Some things can never be made simple.
10. The One: Simplicity is about subtracting the obvious, and adding the meaningful.
Simplicity has always been a passion of mine within my design, I find simplistic design the most aesthetically pleasing, one reasoning being it's efficiency in communication and also the paradoxical idea that simplistic design can also be complex. This manifesto is a more a set of principles and ideologies about simplistic design, I found the manifesto extremely rewarding to read and also take some of the ideas into my own work.
The Luluemon Manifesto - Lululemon Athletica (View)
"Drink FRESH water and as much water as you can. Water flushes unwanted toxins from your body and keeps your brain sharp"
- A daily hit of athletic-induced endorphins gives you the power to make better decisions, helps you be at peace with yourself, and offsets stress.
- Do one thing a day that scares you.
- Listen, listen, listen, and then ask strategic questions.
- Write down your short and long-term GOALS four times a year. Two personal, two business and two health goals for the next 1, 5 and 10 years. Goal setting triggers your subconscious computer.
- Life is full of setbacks. Success is determined by how you handle setbacks.
- Your outlook on life is a direct reflection of how much you like yourself.
- That which matters the most should never give way to that which matters the least.
- Stress is related to 99% of all illness.
- Jealousy works the opposite way you want it to.
- The world is changing at such a rapid rate that waiting to implement changes will leave you 2 steps behind. DO IT NOW, DO IT NOW, DO IT NOW!
- Friends are more important than money.
- Breathe deeply and appreciate the moment. Living in the moment could be the meaning of life.
- Take various vitamins. You never know what small mineral can eliminate the bottleneck to everlasting health.
- Don't trust that an old age pension will be sufficient.
- Visualize your eventual demise. It can have an amazing effect on how you live for the moment.
- The conscious brain can only hold one thought at a time. Choose a positive thought.
- Live near the ocean and inhale the pure salt air that flows over the water, Vancouver will do nicely.
- Observe a plant before and after watering and relate these benefits to your body and brain.
- Practice yoga so you can remain active in physical sports as you age.
- Dance, sing, floss and travel.
- Drink FRESH water and as much water as you can. Water flushes unwanted toxins from your body and keeps your brain sharp
- Children are the orgasm of life. Just like you did not know what an orgasm was before you had one, nature does not let you know how great children are until you have them.
- Successful people replace the words 'wish', 'should' and 'try', with 'I will'.
- Creativity is maximized when you're living in the moment.
- Nature wants us to be mediocre because we have a greater chance to survive and reproduce. Mediocre is as close to the bottom as it is to the top, and will give you a lousy life.
- lululemon athletica creates components for people to live longer, healthier and more fun lives. If we can produce products to keep people active and stress-free, we believe the world will become a much better place.
- Do not use cleaning chemicals on your kitchen counters. Someone will inevitably make a sandwich on your counter.
- SWEAT once a day to regenerate your skin.
- Communication is COMPLICATED. We are all raised in a different family with slightly different definitions of every word. An agreement is an agreement only if each party knows the conditions for satisfaction and a time is set for satisfaction to occur.
- What we do to the earth we do to ourselves.
- The pursuit of happiness is the source of all unhappiness.
This manifesto is more of a serious of statement of which the company live by and also we should each live by. I found many of the points relevant to my own life and will adapt some of them into my life, such as the importance water, it's simple but I hardly drink water yet it's extremely beneficial to my body and more importantly my mind.
Focus - Leo Babauta (View)
You’re going to clear your desk — shove everything in a drawer or box if you have to, and leave only the papers necessary to work on your Something Amazing, and a couple of other essential items (phone, pen & pad, etc.).
You’re going to clear your computer — close all programs, including your browser, that you don’t absolutely need for this task. It’s also crucial that you turn off all notifications on your computer that might distract you: email notifications, Instant Messaging (IM), calendar notifications, anything. Make your computer as distraction-free as possible.
Also turn off your phone, Blackberry, iPhone, and anything else that might distract you from your Something Amazing.
Finally, clear away meetings and anything on your task list that will interfere with this one task. You can
get to those other tasks later, but for now, you’re going to work on nothing but this one amazing task.
For everyone including me, it's always a challenged to get everything no matter how organised you are, I feel I am a very organised person but I still have work that I leave to the last minutes, like my blogging. However this manifesto centred around how to focus on particular tasks and managing task, when to do task, just generally how to more effectively manage time within a project. I will consider many of these concepts within my own future time management.
The Passive Aggressive Manifesto - Michael Schechter
This manifesto-graphic is that piece of information you need to be read when you need that motivational spurt to get on. Although it's satirical to read know, coming back to this at a later date and just having some sense kicked into me could be beneficial in the future.
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