First Things First 2000 manifesto

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 1999 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)^[1] and AIGA Journal of Graphic Design (United States), Eye magazine no. 33 vol. 8, Autumn 1999,^[2] 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.^[3][4] 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.^[5][6]

Thirty-three signers

• Jonathan Barnbrook
• Nick Bell
• Andrew Blauvelt
• Hans Bockting
• Irma Boom
• Sheila Levrant de Bretteville
• Max Bruinsma
• Domenico Catapano
• 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
• Erik Spiekermann
• Jan van Toorn
• Teal Triggs
• Rudy VanderLans
• Bob Wilkinson

Notes

1. "Back Issues: Emigre 51". Emigre.com. Retrieved 2012-02-18.
2. "eye | feature". Eyemagazine.com. Retrieved 2012-02-18.
3. Kleerebezem, Jouke (21 September 1999). "IDIE: Innovation and Design for Information Empowerment 1.0 Archive". Retrieved 2010-01-08.
4. "discussion at the InfoDesign-Café mailing list". 24 September 1999. Retrieved 2010-01-08.
5. Wendi Pickerel; Helena Jorgensen; Lance Bennett (April 19, 2002). "Culture Jams and Meme Warfare: Kalle Lasn, Adbusters, and media activism" (PDF). Retrieved 2010-01-08.
6. Lasn, Kalle (2000). Culture Jam: How to Reverse America's Suicidal Consumer Binge--And Why We Must. ISBN 0-688-17805-7.

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
• "The First Things First manifesto and the Politics of Culture Jamming" A scholarly article by Matt Soar, published in the journal Cultural Studies 16(4), 2002.