New! Manifestos for a Positive Future 2023

Date: 8 December 2022 - 11 August 2023
Location: South House, AUB

“Manifestos challenge the status quo, they help to define who you are as a designer and develop a different mindset.”

‘New! Manifestos for a Positive Future’ is an exhibition of posters designed by BA (Hons) Visual Communication students declaring their motivations, intentions and visions for a more positive future. Designed to be exhibited ready for Januarys ‘Blue Monday’, the most depressing day of the year, first year BA (Hons) Visual Communication students will showcase a series of motivational posters for their future education and careers.

Students were asked to research and explore design manifestos such as Ken Garlands First things first 1964 manifesto. Designs were produced by analogue traditional techniques allowing for multiple prints and printed large scale with the intent to fly poster the entrance to the studios. Limited to typographic statements, students were encouraged to explore, scale, layout, hierarchy, and the word as an expressive typographically.

This exhibition explores the core skills, techniques and outlooks acquired in the Introduction to Visual Communication unit on BA (Hons) Visual Communication. First year students have been introduced to the concepts and fundamentals of Visual Communication as a discipline and the design process through a broad range of methods, practices and contexts associated with the subject. ‘New! Manifestos for a Positive Future’, is the concluding project and reinforces the belief that through design, we can provoke change.

TheGallery works with courses right across the university on a variety of exhibitions, events and projects. ‘New! Manifestos for a Positive Future’ is another example of a collaborative project, this time with BA (Hons) Visual Communication.

TheGallery provides advice and support for the curatorial and technical aspects of the exhibition, as well as advice on event and project management as well as providing a national and international public platform for the arts within the sub-region as we promote the University’s shared passion for excellence in education, industry and the sector.

Visual Communication is a broad discipline, encompassing graphic design, image generation, typography and screen-based design and combines skills in illustration and digital design to create images that persuade or inform. The course focuses on hand-drawn imagery to develop a feel for the shapes and styles that connect with audiences.

Communication underlines the importance of good ideas, with graduates working as freelancers in small design companies and with larger firms, both locally and internationally.