OUGD501: Context of Practice 2 - First Things First Seminar

Our fifth seminar of the Context of Practice 2 module differed from the seminars we have had previously in the sense that we past using the lecture as the subject of the seminar.

In order to prepare us for the essay element of the module, our seminar this week focussed on analysis of texts on the same subject but from a variety of sources. This would help us to understand how to apply triangulation in order to produce a high class piece of academic writing.

The text we were given to analyse the themes discussed in Ken Garland's 'First Things First' Manifesto from 1964. As a class we were split into four groups and each assigned a text to analyse.

Our group was given the 'First Things First' Manifesto from 2000 and were asked to pay particular attention to the differences between 'First Things First 1964' manifesto and the 'First Things First 2000' manifesto.

• "We, the undersigned, are graphic designers, art directors and visual communicators" which is from the 2000 manifesto is appealing to a broader target audience than "We, the undersigned, are graphic designers, photographers and students" from the 1964 manifesto.
• "Commercial work has always paid the bills, but many graphic designers have now let it become, in large measure, what graphic designers do"
• "Designers who devote their efforts primarily to advertising marketing and brand development are supporting, and implicitly endorsing, a mental environment so saturated with commercial messages that it is changing the very way citizen-consumers speak, think, feel, respond and interact. - In the 2000 manifesto their is a sort of shift to the commercial, the message is more urgent.
• Aim of the first manifesto was to create design with more of a purpose however, in the second manifesto, 36 years later they still haven't achieved this.

Task: 

• Produce a critical, triangulated analysis of the 'First Things First' manifesto based on two works of design - Your take on the ethics of that design.
• Triangulation - When making a point, refer to three sources to create a conclusion

Themes For Essay:

• Globalisation and international perspectives 
• Social changes and design 
• Sustainability - Eco Issues
• Consumerism - Consumer system
• Form / Function - Style over substance 

• Propose a idea for a synthesised project, an subject of investigation - could be from a lecture or from one of the seminars
• You will need a question which can be investigated and something which can be made (practical element).

Draft Deadline: 10th February 2014