The First Things First Manifesto was originally written in 1963 and caused quite a stir at the time. It attacked the consumerist culture that was only interested in buying and selling things, and claimed the humanistic dimension of graphic design.
It was updated by a new group of designers in 2000: and now we put it out there for everyone to see:
We, the undersigned, are graphic designers, art directors and visual communicators who have been educated in a world in which we have been led to believe that advertising and its techniques represent the most lucrative, effective and desirable way to use our talents. Many designers, professors and teachers promote this belief; the market rewards it; numerous books and publications reinforce it.
Pushed in this direction, designers apply their skills and imagination to sell dog biscuits, designer coffee, diamonds, detergents, hair gel, cigarettes, credit cards, sneakers, butt-toning creams, light beer, and all-terrain vehicles. Commercial work has always paid the bills, but many graphic designers have allowed it to appear, somehow, that this is what designers do. This, in turn, becomes how the world perceives design. The profession's time and energy is spent building demand for objects that are at best unnecessary.
Many of us are uncomfortable with this view of design. Designers who devote their efforts primarily to advertising, marketing, and branding are advocates for, and implicitly condone, a mental environment so saturated with commercial messages that it is affecting the very way consumers speak, think, feel, respond, and interact. In some ways we are all helping to write a code of public discourse that is so damaging that it is impossible to quantify it.
There are more worthy objectives to which we can apply our problem-solving skills. This unprecedented environmental, social and cultural crisis deserves our attention. Many cultural interventions, social marketing campaigns, books, magazines, exhibitions, educational tools, TV programmes, films, charitable causes and other visual information projects urgently require our expertise and help.
We propose a shift in priorities in favour of a more useful, lasting and democratic way of communicating – a mentality that is further removed from marketing and towards the search for and production of a new type of meaning. The margin for debate
is shrinking; it must grow. No one responds to consumerism; it must be challenged by other perspectives expressed, in part, through visual language and design resources.
In 1964, 22 visual communication professionals signed the original manifesto to make more responsible use of our talent. With the explosion of global communication culture, their message is even more urgent today. Today, we renew his manifesto in the hope that it will not be too many decades before it becomes a reality.
EN 
ES_ES