Siyang Song's profile

Personal Design Manifesto

Personal Design Manifesto, Winter 2009
Instructor: Anne Traver, Partner, Methodologie, Inc.

Design Manifesto: Where my inspiration comes from
My inspiration for designing this manifesto comes from a Chinese literature work called “Ren Jian Ci Hua” - A literary theory about the spiritual nature of human beings. This book was written by a Chinese scholar, named Wang Guowei (1877 - 1927). He made important contributions to Chinese literature.

As Wang Guowei stated in “Ren Jian Ci Hua”, at all times and in all lands, every successful person who obtains remarkable achievements and brilliant ideas, must
go through three basic stages during the process of pursuing success and happiness.
Every person undergoes a moment of confusion about what his goal is and what he
or she expects for his or her life in the future. At that point, we stop to view things
from a big picture perspective, We might ask advises from our parents and friends.
If you find your direction, then, you move forward to the second stage: you go through the difficulties, endure the loneliness, and try your best until the dream comes true.

Finally, we arrive at the third stage. Although satisfied with the achievement, a wise man will still remind himself to act humble and work hard. This is how we begin to understand the essence of success, and the spirit of happiness.

Now, I would like to use Wang Guowei’s concept in the book “Ren Jian Ci Hua” as a metaphor to design my manifesto, which aims to represent what design means to me. This manifesto will include:

1. The first stage:
First stage: Climbing to the top of a mountain to find myself.

2. Second stage:
Second stage: Make my dream come true_Design implementation.

3. Third stage:
Third stage: Beyond myself.

Inside front cover.
Introduction: Where my inspiration comes from
First stage: Climbing to the top of a mountain to find myself.
What design means to me.
Why I choose design as my life-long career.
Second stage: Make my dream come true_Design implementation.
How to be a good designer.
Third stage: Beyond myself.
In the future, I would like to be a designer...
Inside back cover
Personal Design Manifesto
Published:

Personal Design Manifesto

Published: