Reading response #10

Designers’ in occupation or absent mind made a rejoinder admirably by getting back to the essentials of their craft. Learning can be beneficial from an essential approach to design and the manifesto ‘‘First Things First 2020 (FTF2020)” is only the most recent example of the “ethical design” ideologues’ anti-design impulse. The manifestos are a condensed version of a deeply entrenched, pernicious, and elitist ideology.

Fast forward to the 1900s when posters became expression. During the 1940s, graphic design appeared in propaganda posters of the era. “We Can Do It” poster with Rosie the Riveter. Slogans were short, to the point, and added to a graphic that set the tone.

In about ten years, graphic design will become more immersive as the paper will become obsolete. All designs will be digital and have a website feel. Note that the designs will need layers to allow users to click deeper into designs, allowing people to sell products without pitching.

The consumerist culture that was purely concerned with buying and selling things and tried to highlight a Humanist dimension to graphic design theory. It was later updated and republished with a new group of signatories as the First Things First 2000 manifesto.

Ken Garland’s First Things First manifesto was written on the spur of the moment in 1963. Fourth version of the text is most urgent and powerful to date. Calls for a “reversal of priorities” among graphic designers, argues that less design effort should go into advertising.

It attracted and succeeded, but the alleged hypocrisy of a few signatories angered some readers. The second version was written by Adbusters with input from other interested parties. The response was unprecedented. Pentagram’s Michael Bierut crafted an elaborate visual riposte for I.D. Magazine. Many other magazines reprinted and debated FTF 2000, and translations reached legions of new readers.

In 1964, 22 visual communicators signed manifesto, calling for their skills to be put to worthwhile use and renew their manifesto in expectation that no more decades will pass before it is taken to heart. They propose a mind shift away from product marketing and toward the exploration and production of a new meaning.

In 2014, FTF’s 50th anniversary, Cole Peters launched a third version focused on design in the digital realm. First Things First has escaped and outgrown its creator and will continue to mutate. Its progeny, FTFT 2020, the first American version, blasts the reader with a checklist of urgent design goals. It covers the histories and ethics of design, as well as community-based initiatives and non-exploitative social relations.

The manifesto for FTF 2020 has a social justice component. Climate change vulnerability falls on the backs of racially and ethnically marginalized populations. “There can be no solution to climate change without social justice,” says Namita Dharia, one of FTF’s organizers. First Things First’s manifesto, FTF 2020, has attracted over 1,700 supporters. Designers who want a platform for action can follow a link to climatedesigners.org. The organizers present FTF as a “living document,” and supporters are adding their thoughts in a Google doc.

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