The Brigata Italia manifesto is an ongoing process. Using the format of a note pad we will continue to jot down new thoughts and theories, improve old ones and scratch out others. It's our exercise to provoke thought and achieve awareness. We believe that the process is more important than result. The manifesto will continue to evolve and mutate as the digital revolution continues to change the way we think and live.
DESIGN AS AN ACT OF WAR
Along with its democratic potential, new media has become inseparable from commerce. Money is designing the world. Economists, managers and marketers are dictating the parameters of future design by embedding it in customized business environments to maximize usability for millions of customers. Fight market dictatorship.
Source: Émigré, Design4all, Everyone is a Designer, Enzo Mari.
DESIGN CONTENT
Until now, designers were asked to give shape according to content. Today there is a lack of content and therefore, it is now the designer's responsibility to look for it.
THINK LOCAL ACT GLOBAL
The web revolution brings an intricate maze of realities where any act must be considered global. This network of information and commerce is in the process of eliminating diversities as a decisive factor in the human existence. Designers must re-establish the value of cultural diversity. Export your peculiarities, share your traditions, and treasure cultural diversities.
INCLUDE HUMOR TO YOUR DISCIPLINES
Having a sense of humor does not mean putting some jokes on the corporate web site. Rather, it requires big values, a little humility, straight talk, and a genuine point of view.
Source: Cluetrain manifesto, point #22.
REJECT GADGETRY
PAUSE
We have become virtual consumers who are no longer users or even satisfied buyers. Via the www we have become fast-forwarding devouring animals of virtual possibilities. In the accelerated flow of capital, designers must deliver a different pace and create slow spaces. Subtract, reduce, and eliminate the excess: the new challenge of design is to diminish information and to fight against semiotic pollution.
DESIGN REAL VIRTUALITY
We are gradually becoming nomads in a digital landscape yet permanent fixtures as we sit and navigate. Consequently, we still need to move our bodies, to be in contact with other bodies and rediscover the physical state of things. Use digital reality to move physical things.
CLEAN UP YOUR MESS
The digital revolution generated a great deal of information confusion and the design communities chose profit at the expense of integrity. It's time for designers to take responsibility for their actions.
ASPIRE TO FAILURE
Aspire to failure with devotion and no exception. Failure is the only outcome marketers cannot capitalize on. As you do not always win, you do not always loose. Who is ready to accept failure is the one equipped to play the game of life.
JUST DON'T DO IT!
We are not helpless in front of the establishment. A revolution starts from within and big change can be the result of small and seemingly insignificant gestures. If you do not consider yourself a hero and would never think about joining an angry mob think about abstention as the most powerful fighting tool. By simply refusing to buy certain products you are doing something extremely revolutionary.
KILL THE DOT
Phase one of the "project world wide web" is over. The "dot" before the coms, orgs or nets stand synonymously for a cycle of discovery, adventure, excitement, categorization, exploitation, and at its very end, frustration and distrust. Now is the time to move on. We must accept the web as given part of our everyday lives. At the same time, we also must figure out what really to do with this friendly monster we created. If you want a medium that is more then phonebook: get over it and get to work.
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