Aesthetic Approaches

Appended below is a list of manifestos Links to an external site. that articulate the principles of various aesthetic approaches. (The list is somewhat culturally biased because it only includes texts written in English or with an extant English translation.) The manifestos demonstrate that design is not arbitrary but interested—connected to histories, ideologies, and ethics.

Students should look through the manifestos before selecting two to focus upon more deeply. It likely would be helpful to do supplementary research about the chosen aesthetic approaches. (These manifestos often are dense, jargon-filled, cryptic, formally unusual, or otherwise difficult to comprehend, so they require sustained attention.)