OUGD601: Replies in regards to: First Things First

From beginning to write my dissertation and complete research I have found that the first things first manifesto and the idea of the role of the designer within ethics is vitally important. After interviewing four design studios that focus on charitable work I wanted to ask them further questions about their thoughts on the first things first manifesto as it would be interesting to see whether they knew about it or what their opinion on it was. 

I attached a copy of the manifesto and you can find the responses below: 

This was the email I sent to each of them:

'Hello, I am part way through my dissertation for university and I am incredibly thankful for your answers. I was wondering if you have read or are aware of the First Things First Manifesto? I have attached a copy of it and I would love to hear your opinion on it! 

I look forward to hearing from you!

Thanks for your time,

Melissa Morris

LCA BAGD'

The responses can be seen below:

Flying Kite studio
http://www.flyingkite.co.uk

Hi Melissa

No I've never heard of that. Having read it I would not sign up to that manifesto on the 2 points.

1 - it vastly overvalues the status of a graphic designer

2 - I could never sign up to a manifesto that uses such an ugly font as a headline

Thanks

Jon

Zero fee
http://www.zerofee.org

Hi Melissa

I am aware and have read it and the 1999 / 2000 ‘reboot’ of it, along with other similar declarations since. 

I think it was and is a very inspiring call to action but, for the majority of designers, unrealistic or unheeded. For the those operating businesses (or other organisations) and implementing design, the same, but none of that diminishes it as a tool for stimulating interrogation of the impact of our work, good and bad.

Best

Paul Buck

Director, Zerofee

Designed by good people
http://www.designedbygoodpeople.com

Hi Melissa,

I wasn't aware of the First Things First manifesto.

My first thought was 'what is it?'. I had to read it a couple of times. I'm still not 100% sure. It spends more time saying mass consumerism is wrong rather than what is right. It doesn't really say what it's purpose is. Is it to be more ethical in the choice of client? Or to help students with shared knowledge about the creative industries? Or share opinion on the current state of consumerism with students?

Mass market has deep pockets. They will nearly always win the war. Most people are sheep, they follow, they are not the early adopters and there is simply too much money to be made within the machine. You can't fight big machines head on, you have to be clever, exploit a weakness or get inside it and change it from within.

Early adopters instigate change, Early majorities drive it, then everyone else follows. What we need to change things is to ensure the skills we have are used for a different purpose. Instead of manipulating and persuading people to do things that are bad for people and planet, we need to do the opposite.

It's what we are trying to do, one small client, charity or organisation at a time. Plus we have now launched 50/50, a scheme where we share half the profits with a good cause. It's all trial and error, but we will get there in the end. 

Good luck with everything.

Regards

Lee

Piers & Dominic
https://www.piersanddominic.com

Hi Melissa

I wasn’t aware of it. It was written before I was even born.

Retrospectively, it seems more than a little naive though it obviously caused a ripple at the time. Funny that they thought they’d reached saturation point then with consumer selling. I wonder what they’d think of the brand revolution, 24hr supermarkets, the internet, sports’ marketing/sponsorship. They had no idea what was to come. 

I wonder why they had it in for cat food but valued street signs so highly?

Piers

One Line Studio

http://www.onelinestudio.co.uk

Hi Melissa,

I do have a vague memory of this from uni - but I graduated 10 years ago so it's vague! 

It's been very interesting reading it though and quite apt as I'm actually going through a bit of re-brand for the studio with the very purpose of wanting to communicate more to clients why we do what we do, the way we do it. I.e what the ethical means to us.

Aside from that though back to your article and opinions on it:

A key point I noticed was where it talks about the 'sheer noise'. In 1963 advertising on TV was the noise, now it's social media. I wonder what it will be in 20 more years time!

It can be quite sad I guess that we're in an industry where things do become noise because they are overdone. It's hard to be the ones coming up with new ideas but even harder that people then copy them and do them to death!

Case in point I saw a great idea for an interactive twitter ad the other day (by Fishermans Friend if you want to look it up.) It was great because it was new and different. I have no doubt though that everyone will get on it and do the same... hence burning an idea to the death and completely diluting the creative genius behind it. I'd love it if people just said wow that's a great idea let's let it be that... but I may be being a bit too optimistic there ;)

Another point this manifesto of course brings up is the value of creativity. Putting our talents to good use. Which is something I am hugely passionate about. The industry especially the freelance world finds it difficult for some reason to value their own talents and this is something we need to work together and with trade associations to address... maybe we should start a campaign together!! There seems to be a general consensus especially in small business  that anyone with a copy of Photoshop can be a designer... as I'm sure you know that's not quite how it works. But how do we address that and not just flog our skill.. is that by only doing work in which we believe?

Does that help? If you've any specific questions please let me know.

Can you also let me have a copy of any documents where I'm quoted if you use any of this?

boo&stu digital design studio

http://www.booandstu.co.uk/index.html

Hi Melissa

Thanks for your email - interesting one!

It's actually the first time we've seen the First Things First manifesto; despite being designers now our backgrounds are actually in Fine Art so even though we love design history this isn't something we've come across before - thanks for giving us the opportunity to see it. 

We read it with great interest and it did strike us how similar the sentiment was to that in fine art practice around the same time; in the early 1960's there was a strong reaction to the perceived commercialism of abstract expressionism which led to the emergence of less commercial minimalist, site specific and conceptual art trying to reconnect with what they saw as the essence of art.

The main thing that struck us though was how modern the manifesto felt in some ways. It does seem of particularrelevance today, with the prevalence of big advertising being as it is right now. 

That aside I guess for us the central question for us is one of worth, and what constitutes something being worthwhile. 

As creative people we get a massive kick out of just making stuff as I'm sure all creative people do. Nevertheless, beyond the joy of creating stuff for a living, there has to be a feeling that we are doing something worthwhile - which for us means contributing to the planet in a positive way. The list the First Things First manifesto gives of worthwhile projects is very interesting as there are not many in it that would necessarily fill this role for us. Although, in some ways, the manifesto seems very of its time in this regard it does raise an important question about the definition of worthwhileand what it means to the individual. 

We love working with charities (we think its worthwhile) so we try to get to work with them as often as we can. However, we don't only work with charities and our experience of the design profession is that it can be very varied from the point of view of the projects you attract. Sometimes the design challenge is interesting enough within itself that the use it's put to isn't the most important thing; sometimes the way the end result will be used completely outweighs an otherwise ordinary brief. We do quite a broad mix of work but the stuff we enjoy most is either the unusual stuff, or the stuff for organisations we admire. Sometimes (like in the case of designing a papercraft dog for Cruelty Free International, to raise awareness of dogs used in animal experiments) they come together perfectly and it's the best job in the world. 

For us it's very important to have autonomy over who and what we use our skills for. We have an ethical code which outlines the kind of jobs we love doing and those we won't do; it doesn't necessarily get us our dream jobs all the time but it does tell people what we won't use our skills for, and it helps us attract like minded people. We are very aware that as designers we help shape our world both visually and conceptually and as such we are in a very powerful position to influence the values that underpin all our lives. For this reason we always turn down projects if we feel they are negative in some way. This decision is not always black and white and can be hard when you have to make ends meet. It is also very subjective; only each individual designer can make the decision about what's important to them and what they want to invest their skills in. 

We are very aware that this isn't always easy and designers can't necessarily choose the work they do to support themselves all of the time. However, e

ven if the 'worthwhile' projects are few and far between we have to remember that our day jobs aren't the be all and end all of our creative lives. All creative people still do the personal projects they really love doing, for causes they really care about, even if they get pushed into every spare bit of time we have. We're all still designing and illustrating books, t-shirts, creating websites to try and change hearts and minds about particular issues, and generally trying to make the world an easier and better place to live in.

I guess for us in the end it's about pursuing what we think is worthwhile, in our own way regardless. If we can do stuff we consider to be worthwhile 100% of the time in our day job it's fantastic - if not we'll just do it in our own time anyway.

Thanks again for asking. We hope this helps and the very best of luck with your dissertation.

All the Best

Stu

Cast Iron Design
http://castirondesign.com

Hi Melissa,

Yes, I’ve very familiar with the manifesto. I believe I even have signed the recent revival of it. I wish the manifesto was adhered to more by our profession but it seems that not much has changed. My take on it is that a good chunk of the designers who are doing the type of work the manifesto detests are not very interested in the field of graphic design and/or are not taking a part in its affairs (i.e. there are many “graphic design” jobs that are just like any other passionless jobs—clock in, clock out, live the rest of their lives, etc.).

We regularly make the decision to not take part in advertising work as a whole (although a lot of times our work may cross into what could be considered advertorial territory). More specifically, we’re working towards making the profession more accountable, specifically in the sector of environmentally responsible graphic design. I recommend taking a look at the Sustainability and Industry Ethics section of our FAQ  if you’d like more information about our ethics and what we’re doing in these areas.

Cheers

Jonny

moonloft

http://www.moonloft.com

Hi Melissa,

Thank you for your email. I hadn’t heard of the First Things First manifesto, but having read it now I would agree that on the whole advertising can often be a noise and irritant – and for designers to put their efforts and apply their skills to such ‘trivial purposes’ is, to me, perplexing and uninspiring. But I’m sure there are many reasons why they do this – and I’m guessing that this is primarily down to money and a lust for work experience.

However, I made a choice a number of years ago to set up my own design business, and to focus on a more ethical line of work. So now, the majority of my work comes from social enterprises, charities, and universities. One of our biggest clients is Ethical Consumer Research Association who research and provide detailed information about the ethics behind the products and services we buy. These are the kind of people I am proud to work with, as my own personal fight against mass consumerism.

I hope my comments have been useful, and I wish you all the very best with your dissertation. If there’s anything else I can help you with, just let me know.

Kind regards,

Adele

Blue Pig

http://bluepigcreative.co.uk

Hi Melissa

This is a fascinating read – when my business partner was working on her dissertation, she featured the First Things First Manifesto.

If we were aware, we would have put our names to it. There have been 1 or 2 updates since. Eye magazine featured the 1999/2000 version http://www.eyemagazine.com/feature/article/first-things-first-manifesto-2000 and I came across this version on the internet http://firstthingsfirst2014.org interestingly enough Ken Garland who penned the original also signed his name to second version.

I think the first and second versions keep the right tone, the third version has elaborated on it a bit and I'm not sure if I understand some of their terminology or meaning.

As mentioned, I would have loved to put my name to this – but the first version I was only 2 years old and the second version I was never made aware of. The third version I didn't hear about either.

I think it chimes with what we at Blue Pig believe – our skills are important and should be put to good use. We've been in business for over 25 years now, and we've always distanced ourselves from the advertising industry. It's greedy and consumeristic and doesn't care about the environment, society or the poor. It's jumped on the bandwagon in recent years, but only because it's become fashionable and there's money to be had.

It makes for an interesting ethics discussion and I think all students should read it, study it and talk about it. I teach a Design Consultancy unit to graphic design students at Harlow University (UCH), and ethics is part of it – it's amazing to see/hear their minds turning over at this point.

I hope this helps, let me know if you need any other info. Perhaps I could see your project when it's finished?

Kind regards,

Trevor