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First Things First 2000

This document is a manifesto titled "First Things First 2000" signed by 33 graphic designers. It summarizes the original 1964 "First Things First" manifesto which called for designers to use their skills for worthwhile causes rather than just advertising. The 2000 version expresses concern that design has become focused on commercialism and branding, and calls for a shift toward more useful communication that addresses social and environmental issues and expands public discourse.

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98 views4 pages

First Things First 2000

This document is a manifesto titled "First Things First 2000" signed by 33 graphic designers. It summarizes the original 1964 "First Things First" manifesto which called for designers to use their skills for worthwhile causes rather than just advertising. The 2000 version expresses concern that design has become focused on commercialism and branding, and calls for a shift toward more useful communication that addresses social and environmental issues and expands public discourse.

Uploaded by

For
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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maxb cv texts themes contact maze back

First Things
First 2000
a design manifesto
manifesto published jointly by
33 signatories in:
Adbusters, the AIGA
journal, Blueprint, Emigre,
Eye, Form, Items
fall 1999 / spring 2000
foreword
by Chris Dixon, Adbusters
introduction
by Rick Poynor
original Manifesto, 1964
reaction
by Jouke Kleerebezem
disciussion
Info Design Cafe mailinglist
miscellaneous reactions

First Things First


2000
a design manifesto

http://www.xs4all.nl/~maxb/ftf2000.htm 8/2/2004
max bruinsma > first things first Page 2 of 4

We, the undersigned, are graphic designers, art


directors and visual communicators who have been
raised in a world in which the techniques and
apparatus of advertising have persistently been
presented to us as the most lucrative, effective and
desirable use of our talents. Many design teachers
and mentors promote this belief; the market rewards
it; a tide of books and publications reinforces it.

Encouraged in this direction, designers then apply


their skill and imagination to sell dog biscuits,
designer coffee, diamonds, detergents, hair gel,
cigarettes, credit cards, sneakers, butt toners,
light beer and heavy-duty recreational vehicles.
Commercial work has always paid the bills, but many
graphic designers have now let it become, in large
measure, what graphic designers do. This, in turn,
is how the world perceives design. The profession's
time and energy is used up manufacturing demand for
things that are inessential at best.

Many of us have grown increasingly uncomfortable


with this view of design. Designers who devote their
efforts primarily to advertising, marketing and
brand development are supporting, and implicitly
endorsing, a mental environment so saturated with
commercial messages that it is changing the very way
citizen-consumers speak, think, feel, respond and
interact. To some extent we are all helping draft a
reductive and immeasurably harmful code of public
discourse.

There are pursuits more worthy of our problem-


solving skills. Unprecedented environmental, social
and cultural crises demand our attention. Many
cultural interventions, social marketing campaigns,
books, magazines, exhibitions, educational tools,
television programs, films, charitable causes and
other information design projects urgently require
our expertise and help.

We propose a reversal of priorities in favor of more


useful, lasting and democratic forms of
communication - a mindshift away from product

http://www.xs4all.nl/~maxb/ftf2000.htm 8/2/2004
max bruinsma > first things first Page 3 of 4

marketing and toward the exploration and production


of a new kind of meaning. The scope of debate is
shrinking; it must expand. Consumerism is running
uncontested; it must be challenged by other
perspectives expressed, in part, through the visual
languages and resources of design.

In 1964, 22 visual communicators signed the original


call for our skills to be put to worthwhile use.
With the explosive growth of global commercial
culture, their message has only grown more urgent.
Today, we renew their manifesto in expectation that
no more decades will pass before it is taken to
heart.

signed:

Jonathan Barnbrook
Nick Bell
Andrew Blauvelt
Hans Bockting
Irma Boom
Sheila Levrant de Bretteville
Max Bruinsma
Siân Cook
Linda van Deursen
Chris Dixon
William Drenttel
Gert Dumbar
Simon Esterson
Vince Frost
Ken Garland
Milton Glaser
Jessica Helfand
Steven Heller
Andrew Howard
Tibor Kalman
Jeffery Keedy
Zuzana Licko
Ellen Lupton
Katherine McCoy
Armand Mevis
J. Abbott Miller
Rick Poynor
Lucienne Roberts

http://www.xs4all.nl/~maxb/ftf2000.htm 8/2/2004
max bruinsma > first things first Page 4 of 4

Erik Spiekermann
Jan van Toorn
Teal Triggs
Rudy VanderLans
Bob Wilkinson

and many more

top

back

http://www.xs4all.nl/~maxb/ftf2000.htm 8/2/2004

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