inside manifeso (everything)-compressed

THFIIRNSGTS FIRST

We, the undersigned, are designers who have been raised in a world in which we put profit over people and the planet in an attempt to grease the wheels of capitalism and keep the machine running. Our time and energy are increasingly used to manufacture demand, to exploit populations, to extract resources, to fill landfills, to pollute the air, to promote colonization, and to propel our planet’s sixth mass extinction. We have helped to create comfortable, happy lives for some of our species and allowed harm to others; our designs, at times, serve to exclude, eliminate, and discriminate.

Many design teachers and professionals perpetuate this ideology; the markets reward it; a tide of imitations and “likes” reinforces it. Encouraged in this direction, designers then apply their skills and imagination to sell fast fashion, fast cars, and fast food; disposable cups, bubble wrap, and unending amounts of single-use plastics; fidget spinners, microwave dinners, and nose hair trimmers.

We market unhealthy body images and diets; products and apps that propagate social isolation and depression; the consumption of unbalanced food systems; we sell pills to pop, tiks to tok, and a scrolling feed that never stops… and then the desire to consume it all over again and again. Yes, commercial work has always paid the bills, but many designers have let it become, in large measure, what designers do. This, in turn, is how the world perceives design..

Many of us have grown increasingly uncomfortable with this view of design. Because of this, we call for a massive change in what and how designers design. Climate change is critically entangled with class, race, and gender-based dominance, we can no longer push merely for sustainability, but must create new systems that undo and heal what’s been done.

WHAMT USWTE



Wereanefgganegmvaonoognueree-ssrseodtaoxfbtrcfpmieeoiolavyronolmeoi-,rtreneaessndtxeiovinpvsoficelruouaol,surcrnntastpamotiiioirvnnooeen-anfna,eb—,etpsaaimplsnilaitrordpyomenap—lc’atisronhtita-pideooctr-trnwiisvieocsheaar.,iirtfstaditieonesttnsdhoiaonftf We must commit to reconnecting design, We must direct our skills for the betterment of manufacturing, distribution, and use of humanity towards a more the things we design to ecological civilization. the Earth — and all of its inhabitants.

We believe that of these principles should be integrated into

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT LETTER FOR FIRST THINGS FIRST We acknowledge the complex and varied nature of designing, which has many possible uses and outcomes. We do not want to take any of the fun out of life. But we are proposing a reversal of priorities in favor of more useful, generative, and equitable forms of design Thank You Sincerly, First Things First Manifesto

22 visual 33 designers and On the 50th communicators, commentators signed an anniversary of the young and old, updated version of First manifesto – over 1600 signed the original Things First published in designers across the call for our abilities magazines around the world renewed their to be valued. world, and the document commitment to attracted hundreds of the manifesto. signatures online.

With the ongoing destruction of essential living systems on our planet, this message has only grown more urgent. As we celebrate the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, we renew the previous manifestos with a greater sense of urgency as we see the compounded effects of our climate crisis unfold before us. It is imperative that we take climate action now.

PLEDGE TO FIRST THINGS FIRST MANIFESTO (you can do this at any time of your convenience) I, as a designer, pledge that I will acknowledge all of the information below and would join other designers and commit to joining the First Things First manifesto. Singnature Date