I think we can all agree that manifestos are over-written and under-executed. So call this a rant or a pep talk, a sermon if that's your cup of tea, or maybe most appropriately, a call to arms.
Here's the rose-colored glasses version: We need the design world (particularly industrial design) to stop talking big and start doing good; to put the problem-solving skills on which we pride ourselves to work on some of the biggest global issues; to design for health, poverty, homelessness, education, and more.
And here's the brass tacks reality: We need to challenge the design world to take the "product" out of product design for a second and deliver results and impact rather than form and function; to reconsider who our clients really are; to turn our tightly-cinched consumer business models and luxury aesthetics on their heads; to get over "going green;" and to enlist a new generation of design activists. We need big hearts, bigger business sense, and even bigger balls.
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