First Things First

I read the First Things First manifesto in Emigre magazine in 1999. It started me thinking critically about what I did, and about how I'd feel looking back on my life’s work. It led me down a path to where I am now, doing design work only for organizations and people that are consciously trying to make the world a better place. For me, that means education, human rights, environment, organic, fair trade, non-profit, holistic health and the arts.

Another Emigre article that was influencial was Saving Advertising by Jelly Helm. He talked about overconsumption (“If everyone consumed the way Americans do, we would need four more earths to support it”) and advertising and design’s role in that. Advertising’s goal is to create desire, to make you unhappy until you buy something. And as Jelly points out, the danger of materialism is one of the things every major religion agrees on.