Manifest - ILLUSTRATED

– from an ad for the Western Engraving and Colortype Co.“Illustration Beats Explanation”

How much do you want to be understood?

Clarity of meaning is a question, rather than an essential quality of art. We can explore ideas while holding space for uncertainty and mystery, leaving some questions open-ended.

But when is there no room for ambiguity? Visual work is sometimes tasked with questions rather than raising them, with conveying information rather than emotion—think of technical manuals explaining which-part-goes-where, books full of images that work in union with text to tell a story (or tell a story without any text at all), advertisements where images are calibrated, targeted, to market products to you, courtroom drawings, maps, and so much more. Before the advent of photography, visual art and design were practically synonymous with 'illustration'. Before the advent of movable type, visual illustration was the primary means of education and non-audibl…