“In common with an increasing number of the general public, we have reached a saturation point at which the high pitched scream of consumer selling is no more than sheer noise.”

Ken Garland, et. al.
First Things First: A Manifesto




First Things First: A Manifesto
“…we are proposing a reversal of priorities in favour of the more useful and more lasting forms of communication. We hope that our society will tire of gimmick merchants, status salesmen and hidden persuaders, and that the prior call on our skills will be for worthwile purposes.”

Link >

 

 
a
Advertising for a Better World: The nation's only nonprofit ad agency crafts messages with a mission
November/December 2006
Utne Reader
by James Diers
Link >

A Fast Organic Nation?
October/November 2005; Pp. 71–75
Plenty
by Saran Rose

Against All Odds

January/February 2004; Pp. 66-73
Mother Jones
by Adam Hochschild
Link >

America the Greedy
April 29, 2004
AIGA website
by Carolyn McCarron
Link >

An Ideal Design is Not Yet
1999
The World Must Change — Graphic Design and Idealism
by Leonie ten Duis, Annelies Haase
Link >

An Offer They Can’t Refuse
September 2005; Pp. 4–13
The Sun
by Pat MacEnulty
Link >
 

 
b Better by Design
August 2005
RSA eJournal
Link >
 

 
c space Can Designers Save the World (and should they try?)
September/October 2001
Spy
by Nico Macdonald
Link >

Conceptual Design: Building a Social Conscience
November 01, 2005
AIGA
by Nick Currie
Link >

The Conversation: When should graphic designers make a political commitment
August 2007
Communication Arts
by John Emerson

Corporate Social Responsibility: Just Good Business
January 17, 2008
Economist
by Daniel Franklin
Link >

Culture Change
January/February 2003; Pp. 52–57, 78
Mother Jones
by David Goodman
Link >
 

 
d


The Designer and Pro Bono:
Professional Practices Series 3

by Doowah Design Inc. with Deschenes Regnier
Link >


The Designer's Dilemma: Changing the way we think about design to better tackle the challenges of environmentalism.
The Designers Accord
by Valerie Casey
Link >


Design for the Next Billion Customers
Core77 Design Blog
by Niti Bhan and Dave Tait
Link >


Designism 2.0

Social Design Notes
Backspace website
Link >
 

 
e


Ethics and Social Responsibility
July/August 2005
Professional Practice
by Shel Perkins
Link >


Ethics in Design
March 27, 2003
by Megan Prusynski
Link >

 

 
f


First Things First 1964 a Manifesto
1964
Guardian Newspaper
by Ken Garland
Link >

First Things First Manifesto 2000 Design Manifesto
fall 1999 / spring 2000
Manifesto published jointly by 33 signatories in:
Adbusters, the AIGA journal, Blueprint, Emigre, Eye, Form, Items
Link >

 

 
g
Gods and Monsters
January/February, 2004; Pp. 49–53, 84
Mother Jones
by Mark Dowie
Link >


Graphic Intervention
Typotheque.com
by Steven Heller
Link >

 

 
h


How Can Design Influence the Tools of Democracy?
March 11, 2008
AIGA website
by Richard Grefé
Link >

How Good is Good?
April/May 2002
Reprinted in I.D. Magazine
by Stefan Sagmeister
Link >

How to Create a Real Ownership Society
March 2006; Pp. 41–47
Ode
by Jonathan Rowe

How To Curb Corporate Power
October 10, 2005; Pp. 20-24
The Nation
by Ralph Nader


How to Look at Billboards
No.17; Pp.16-19
Stay Free
by Howard Gossage
Link >


Hype vs. Hope
November/December 2006; Pp. 52–57
Mother Jones
by Bill MicKibben
Link >

 

 
i

In Search of Ethics in Graphic Design
August 16, 2004
AIGA website
by Paul Nini
Link >
 

 
j

Just Do It! Tony Hendra on Designism
October 24, 2006
AIGA website
by Steven Heller
Link >
 

 
k


Kyoto Design Declaration 2008
2008
AIGA website
Link >

 

 
m


The Marketing of Diamonds: How A Successful Cartel Turned A Worthless Rock
Edward Jay Epstein
Abridged by Carrie McLaren.
Link >


Meet The Corporation
September/October 2005; Pp. 24–29
Sierra
by Chris Warren
Link >


My Beef With Big Media
May 2005; Pp. 24–27
Ode
by Ted Turner
Link >


My Prescription for an Ethically Designed Future
2008
AIGA Center for Sustainable Design
by Eric Benson
Link >

 

 
n
The New Capitalists
May/June 2006; Pp. 40–49
Utne
by Joseph Hart
Link >

 

 
p


Practise, Don’t Preach
September 2005
Spy
Nico Macdonald
Link >


Print Design and Environmental Responsibility
AIGA
Link >

 

 
r

The Road to Hell—Bending the truth can be a slippery slope for graphic designers
August/September 2002
Metropolismag.com
by Milton Glaser
Link >

 

 
s


Signature of the Kyoto Design Declaration
2008
Lécole de design, Nantes Atlanique
Link >


Standards of Professional Practice
2008
AIGA
Link >


Stories That Shake The World
April 2006; Pp. 42-45
Ode
by Seth Godin
Link >


Success and the Design of Morality
Core77
by Cordy Swope
Link >


Sustainability
14 November 2006, Updated 22 March 2007
by Beatrice K. Otto
Design Council
Link >


Sustainability and Biodegradability: Packaging That 'Goes Away'?!
March, 2007
Package Design Magazine,
Sustainable Packaging Update website
by Eric Brody and Wendy Jedlicka
Link >


Sustainable Progress
May 20, 2004
Spy
by Nico Macdonald
Link >

 

 
t


Taking It To The Streets, Graphic Design for Advocacy
May/June 2004
Communication Arts
by John Emerson
Link >

Thinking about Design Education
September 18, 2004
AIGA
by Kerry Polite
Link >


There is Such a Thing as Society
2001
Eye Magazine
by Andrew Howard
Link >


The Time for Being Against
February 24, 2001
Typotheque
by Rick Poynor
Link >


Towards Creative Activism
03/27/07
Creative Review
by Patrick
Link >


Triumph of the Shill part one
Issue 23, Winter 2004; Pp. 51-59
Bitch: Feminist Response to Pop Culture
by Jennifer L. Pozner
Link >


Triumph of the Shill part two
Issue 24, Spring 2004; Pp. 55-61, 91
Bitch: Feminist Response to Pop Culture
by Jennifer L. Pozner
Link >

 

 
w


Waiting for Permission
1992
Rethinking Design, a journal from Mohawk Paper Mills
by Michael Bierut
Link >

What Learning Needs, The challenge for a creative nation
June 1, 2001
Design Council
by Rachel Jupp, Ciara Fairly and Tom Bentley
Link >

When Is a Corporation Like a Freed Slave?
November/December 2006; Pp. 63–66
Mother Jones
by Barry Yeoman
Link >

 

 
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last update: 10/31/08