Manifesto
My manifesto
I am Craig Baldwin. I set out writing this manifesto with the aim of defining myself in a world full of designers crying out for attention; I am a designer with a keen interest in pixel perfect design and well laid typography. But that isn't all there is to know about me; I can work expertly with a whole range of different media, from cardboard and fabric to model making and collage and everything in between, I blend a skilful use of computers with a creative, experimental and quirky tactile hands-on attitude. I don't know of many designers who have moved from 3D computer generated typography to stop motion animation using handmade models in one year but that is just the sort of designer I am, versatile and unfazed by something new or unexpected.
Computers are a natural extension of my abilities, I augment my work with them rather than hamper it, in reality I create, virtually I refine and perfect. I intuitively pick up new skills along the way, I have self taught myself most of what I know and pick new things up quickly, I'm a strongly independent person with imagination to spare but with the ability to work well with others and combine our creativity towards a great outcome.
I approach my work with an ordered and coherent attitude; organisation is your best friend when your mind races through different techniques and concepts when you first receive a new brief to work on.
In defining these rules I hope to encompass what and who I am, how I work and my beliefs of what makes a design great, they are not simply there to be read and followed, I am a constantly evolving person, hence the title, who cannot easily be contained by a set of specific rules instead these rules aim to outline a way of working, a way of thinking that I observe when working. I am a jack-of-all-trades, master of none, oft times better than master of one.
The ten rules
1. Design is art with a purpose.
2. Touch can never be replaced.
3. Design is in the detail.
4. Be colourful, but not for the sake of it.
5. Hard work pays its own dividends.
6. Steal from everywhere.
7. Seek criticism and be nice about it.
8. The best ideas come at night.
9. Always take down notes.
10. Don't design for the money (but don't do it for free).
11. Break the rules.