“There are pursuits more worthy of our problem-solving skills. Unprecedented environmental, social and cultural crises demand our attention.” (Garland 1964) In 1963, Ken Garland a British graphic designer wrote the First Things First manifesto, as a plea to graphic designers and visual communicators to use their problem-solving skills, experience and knowledge on important and urgent purposes. Written at a time when the British economy was booming with consumer goods like cat food, deodorant, cigarettes and other. Design for advertising of these goods was in demand, which was also more remunerating, effective and desirable profession as compared to other practices in design. The manifesto places design for communication of social, economical …show more content…
80). He started his own design studio Ken Garland & Associates in 1962, prior to working as the Editor at Design Magazine for six years. He has worked on many commercial projects with different clients, where he preferred to work with small companies, to large multinational. (Roberts 2005, p. 80). He is known for designing an educational game called Connect and the political poster for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, which he designed for no fee. He has contributed articles to numerous periodicals and self published several books on design and photography. (Roberts 2005, p. 80). He has basically been teaching since he left school (Designboom 2013). He has been an influential teacher, known for his distinctive views on issues such as “protest and activism that resonate with today’s design students” (Northover 2013). It is apparent that Garlands work for the campaign on Nuclear Disarmament, his concern and views on issues and his choice to work for smaller corporations led him to write the …show more content…
It was bought back into focus at the time when the rise of the Internet was taking over the economy. Thirty-three graphic designers, art directors and visual communicators signed the manifesto. It was republished jointly by several publications — Adbuster, AIGA Journal of Graphics Design, Eye, Emigre, Blueprint, Form and Items (Gomez-Palacia & Vit 2012, p. 49). The manifesto called forth the reversal of priorities and added on design for “social marketing campaign, exhibition, charitable causes and information design projects” to its list where the skills and expertise of a designer should be used more. (SOURCE