Personal Manifesto

Project roles: Concept Development, Editorial Design, Typography, Writing, Print Production

Project timeline: One month

A 22-page manifesto exploring the tension between analog craft, digital efficiency, and AI—materialized through a physically distressed editorial system.

Problem

As design tools become faster, more accessible, and increasingly automated, the role of the designer is becoming less defined.

With the rise of AI and platforms that prioritize speed and output, the field risks losing the sense of craft, authorship, and physical engagement that once defined it.

Concept

If AI removes the hand of the designer, then the process becomes the statement.

This project doesn’t just question the role of AI—it responds by reintroducing imperfection, labor, and physical intervention as essential parts of design.

Approach

The booklet intentionally contrasts digital construction with analog disruption, drawing inspiration from Chris Ashworth’s distressed, anti-perfection aesthetic.

Designed initial layouts digitally using Adobe InDesign
Printed spreads and physically manipulated them using tape, X-Acto knives, nail files, paint, stencils, and Letraset
Re-scanned altered pages back into a digital format, creating a layered dialogue between physical and digital processes
Embraced imperfection, texture, and damage as core visual elements rather than flaws

Outcome / Impact

By physically embedding the process into the final outcome, it reinforces the value of human touch in an increasingly automated field—creating a piece that cannot be replicated through purely digital or AI-driven means.

Reflection

This project reinforced the importance of process as a form of authorship.

Moving between digital and physical workflows required intentional decision-making at every stage, highlighting the contrast between efficiency and effort. It pushed me to embrace imperfection and position making as a critical part of meaning—rather than something to be optimized away.