Dada Manifesto

With the option to choose either the Dada or Futurism Manifesto, this was a second-year project where we were first introduced to editorial design.

 

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The brief was to design a book that expresses the narrative of the content in our own way, through defined typography and self-generated imagery. After reading both manifestos, I chose Dada. I was drawn to the fragmented thinking and disrupted thoughts reflected in the text, as well as the visuals created in my mind’s eye when reading it.

 

Dada means… nothing! Its characteristics are spontaneity, continuous contradiction, fragmentation, rejection of logic and reasoning, free-thinking nonsense, repetition, provocation, irrationality, and chaos to name a few. And its manifesto, although poetic, certainly takes you on a journey! It's performative and expressive.

 

To ensure a level of cohesiveness throughout my book I had to set limits, so the content was readable. Reframing the conversation allowed me to be visually expressive and multifarious typographically, in the style of Dada. I aimed to free the words from their context and take the reader on a visual journey that matched the contents, building the passion and disruptive nature of the art movement conveyed in the text.

 

I also used collage which represents Dadaism well due to the element of chance when cutting or ripping paper materials – you can’t control precisely how the paper will rip making it highly individualistic. This spontaneity embodies the spirit of Dada further – ripping pages of a book is a rejection of tradition and entirely chaotic in the result, as well as the performance of the action.