First things first 2000 Manifesto
Encyclopedia
The First Things First 2000 manifesto, launched by Adbusters
magazine in 1999, was an updated version of the earlier First Things First
manifesto written and published in 1964 by Ken Garland
, a British designer.
The 2000 manifesto was signed by a group of 33 figures from the international graphic design community, many of them well known, and simultaneously published in Adbusters (Canada), Emigre (Issue 51) http://www.emigre.com/EMag.php?issue=51 and AIGA
Journal of Graphic Design (United States), Eye magazine
no. 33 vol. 8, Autumn 1999, Blueprint (Britain) and Items (Netherlands). The manifesto was subsequently published in many other magazines and books around the world, sometimes in translation. Its aim was to generate discussion about the graphic design
profession's priorities in the design press and at design schools. Some designers welcomed this attempt to reopen the debate, while others rejected the manifesto.
The question of value-free design has been continually contested in the graphic design community between those who are concerned about the need for values in design and those who believe it should be value-free. Those who believe that design can be free from values reject the idea that graphic designers should concern themselves with underlying political questions. Those who are concerned about values believe that designers should be critical and take a stand in their choice of work, for instance by not promoting industries and products perceived to be harmful. Examples of projects that might be classified as unacceptable include many forms of advertising and designs for cigarette manufacturers, arms companies and so on. Adbusters has been a significant outlet for these ideas, especially in its commitment to detournement
and culture jamming
.
AdBusters
The Adbusters Media Foundation is a Canadian-based not-for-profit, anti-consumerist, pro-environment organization founded in 1989 by Kalle Lasn and Bill Schmalz in Vancouver, British Columbia...
magazine in 1999, was an updated version of the earlier First Things First
First things first 1964 Manifesto
The First Things First manifesto was written 29 November 1963 and published in 1964 by Ken Garland. It was backed by over 400 graphic designers and artists and also received the backing of Tony Benn, radical left-wing MP and activist, who published it in its entirety in the Guardian...
manifesto written and published in 1964 by Ken Garland
Ken Garland
Ken Garland is notable as a British graphic designer, author and game designer. Garland established Ken Garland Associates in 1962.Garland studied design at London's Central School of Arts and Crafts in the early 1950s...
, a British designer.
The 2000 manifesto was signed by a group of 33 figures from the international graphic design community, many of them well known, and simultaneously published in Adbusters (Canada), Emigre (Issue 51) http://www.emigre.com/EMag.php?issue=51 and AIGA
Aiga
‘Aiga is a word in the Samoan language which means 'family.' The aiga is the family unit of Samoan society and differs from the Western sense in that it consists more than just a mother, father and children. The Samoan family, also referred to as an 'extended family' is based on the culture's...
Journal of Graphic Design (United States), Eye magazine
Eye (magazine)
Eye Magazine, The International Review of Graphic Design is a quarterly print magazine on graphic design and visual culture.- History :...
no. 33 vol. 8, Autumn 1999, Blueprint (Britain) and Items (Netherlands). The manifesto was subsequently published in many other magazines and books around the world, sometimes in translation. Its aim was to generate discussion about the graphic design
Graphic design
Graphic design is a creative process – most often involving a client and a designer and usually completed in conjunction with producers of form – undertaken in order to convey a specific message to a targeted audience...
profession's priorities in the design press and at design schools. Some designers welcomed this attempt to reopen the debate, while others rejected the manifesto.
The question of value-free design has been continually contested in the graphic design community between those who are concerned about the need for values in design and those who believe it should be value-free. Those who believe that design can be free from values reject the idea that graphic designers should concern themselves with underlying political questions. Those who are concerned about values believe that designers should be critical and take a stand in their choice of work, for instance by not promoting industries and products perceived to be harmful. Examples of projects that might be classified as unacceptable include many forms of advertising and designs for cigarette manufacturers, arms companies and so on. Adbusters has been a significant outlet for these ideas, especially in its commitment to detournement
Detournement
A détournement is a technique developed in the 1950s by the Letterist International, and consist in "turning expressions of the capitalist system against itself." Détournement was prominently used to set up subversive political pranks, an influential tactic called situationist prank that was...
and culture jamming
Culture jamming
Culture jamming, coined in 1984, denotes a tactic used by many anti-consumerist social movements to disrupt or subvert mainstream cultural institutions, including corporate advertising. Guerrilla semiotics and night discourse are sometimes used synonymously with the term culture jamming.Culture...
.
Thirty-three signers
- Jonathan BarnbrookJonathan BarnbrookJonathan Barnbrook , is a British graphic designer and typographer. He trained at Central St Martin's and at the Royal College of Art .- Work :...
- Nick Bell
- Andrew Blauvelt
- Hans Bockting
- Irma BoomIrma BoomIrma Boom is an Amsterdam-based graphic designer who specializes in book making. With her use of unfamiliar formats, materials, colors, structures, and typography. Boom turns books into a visual and haptic experience. Boom has established an international reputation, according to an interview in...
- Sheila Levrant de BrettevilleSheila Levrant de BrettevilleSheila Levrant de Bretteville is a graphic designer, artist and educator whose work reflects her belief in the importance of feminist principles and user participation in graphic design...
- Max Bruinsma
- Siân Cook
- Linda van Deursen
- Chris Dixon
- William DrenttelWilliam DrenttelWilliam Drenttel is a graphic designer, editor, a partner in Winterhouse Studios, and President Emeritus of the American Institute of Graphic Arts . Drenttel received a BA in European Cultural Studies from Princeton University....
- Gert Dumbar
- Simon Esterson
- Vince Frost
- Ken GarlandKen GarlandKen Garland is notable as a British graphic designer, author and game designer. Garland established Ken Garland Associates in 1962.Garland studied design at London's Central School of Arts and Crafts in the early 1950s...
- Milton GlaserMilton GlaserMilton Glaser is a graphic designer, best known for the I Love New York logo, his "Bob Dylan" poster, the "DC bullet" logo used by DC Comics from 1977 to 2005, and the "Brooklyn Brewery" logo. He also founded New York Magazine with Clay Felker in 1968.-Biography:Glaser was born into a Hungarian...
- Jessica HelfandJessica HelfandJessica Helfand is an author, columnist and lecturer on graphic design. She is the partner of William Drenttel of Winterhouse Studios, Winterhouse Editions and Winterhouse Institute located in Falls Village, Connecticut. She is a critic in graphic design at Yale University, where she earned her...
- Steven HellerSteven Heller (graphic design)Steven Heller is an American art director, journalist, critic, author, and editor who specializes on topics related to graphic design....
- Andrew Howard
- Tibor KalmanTibor KalmanTibor Kalman was an influential American graphic designer of Hungarian origin, well-known for his work as editor-in-chief of Colors magazine....
- Jeffery KeedyJeffery KeedyJeffery Keedy is an American graphic designer, type designer, writer and educator.Keedy has been teaching design at the California Institute of the Arts since 1985. Keedy was also a frequent contributor to Emigre magazine throughout the twenty years of its publication...
- Zuzana LickoZuzana LickoZuzana Licko is a typeface designer based out of the San Francisco Bay Area who was born in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia.Licko came to the United States when she was a child along with her family...
- Ellen LuptonEllen LuptonEllen Lupton was born in 1963, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Ellen Lupton is a graphic designer, writer, curator, and educator. Well known for her fascination and study within "typography", Lupton decided to expand her love for design, and later took on the graphic design world...
- Katherine McCoyKatherine McCoyKatherine McCoy is an American graphic designer and educator, best known for her work as the co-chair of the graduate Design program for Cranbrook Academy of Art....
- Armand Mevis
- J. Abbott MillerJ. Abbott MillerJ. Abbott Miller or Abbott Miller was born in Indiana and studied at the Cooper Union School of Art in New York. Miller is a graphic designer and writer. He is a partner in the New York office of the design firm Pentagram. He edits 2wice magazine...
- Rick PoynorRick PoynorRick Poynor is a British writer on design, graphic design, typography and visual culture. He began as a general visual arts journalist, working on Blueprint magazine in London. After founding Eye magazine , which he edited from 1990 to 1997, he focused increasingly on visual communication...
- Lucienne Roberts
- Erik SpiekermannErik SpiekermannErik Spiekermann is a German typographer and designer. He is a professor at the University of the Arts Bremen....
- Jan van Toorn
- Teal Triggs
- Rudy VanderLansRudy VanderLansRudy VanderLans is a Dutch type and graphic designer and the co-founder of Emigre, an independent type foundry.VanderLans studied at the Royal Academy of Art in the Hague. Later, he moved to California and studied photography at the University of California, Berkeley...
- Bob Wilkinson
External links
- Text of the Manifesto
- Emigre Issue 51: First Things First
- Adbusters report on the Manifesto
- Text of the manifesto, published in Eye no. 33 vol. 8, Autumn 1999, followed by a short article.
- Andrew Howard’s article ‘There is such a thing as society’, from Eye no. 13 vol. 4.
- Published writing from Ken Garland’s website.
- "First things first - or our things first?" A short critique of the manifesto by Jan Michl