too, inspired vibrant and playful clothes. It opened up a wider platform for artists and designers to create. The work produced took on greater prominence as liberalism ushered in a new era “culture, beauty, leisure, and even frivolity” (Laing 22). “First Things First” did not deny the opportunity this moment presented to designers; the purpose was not to “take any of the fun out of life.” However, it warned against reducing design to “trivial purposes, which contribute little or nothing to our national prosperity.” The manifesto dedicated its signers a “reversal of priorities” to “other things more worth using [their] skills and experience on.” The subsequent list stands in contrast to the mundane products detailed earlier: There are signs for streets and buildings, books and periodicals, catalogues, instructional manuals, industrial photography, educational aids, films, television features, scientific and industrial publications and all the other media through which we promote our trade, our education, our culture and our greater awareness of the world. “First Things First” resituated design as having “worthwhile purposes” rather than merely serving “gimmick merchants, status salesmen, and hidden persuaders.” It reconceives of design as having real-world utility. Importantly, “First Things First” does not understand design as existing separately from its environment. Designers should not think of themselves as imparting their aesthetic and utilitarian innovations from a detached place. They should bring “awareness of the world.” Garland took great interest in the era’s creativity and rise in political consciousness, encouraging designers to look to it for inspiration. For example, he admired the work of political movements that used their platform to voice useful information on important issues through innovate methods. Garland even advocated that “protests are the place designers should be looking” (Wainwright). For him, designers should learn from the great impact non-designers (such as the protestors) can have, even without the technical forethought of a designer’s mind. Design is a form of an exchange – a conversation with society – that moves with it. It is not static, singular in purpose, subject to unchanging ideas, and designers should not allow it to become so. Garland’s own work was informed by the design-principles of “First Things First.” He countered the “high-pitched scream” and “sheer noise” of consumerism with aesthetically simple and purpose-driven design. In 1969, for example, he was commissioned by Galt Toys to design their catalogues, print materials, and posters but was also involved in designing the toys for the company, thereby transcending the brief typically given to a “graphic de87
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