Thanks to all designers for the contributions.
The jury has selected 10 works from the submissions which will now be published in the newspaper "Presse am Sonntag".
We hope that our call has given you some space for further discussion
List of the selected submissions (PDF)
Jury:
Univ.-Prof. Oliver Kartak
Klasse für Grafik Design
University of Applied Arts Vienna
Univ.-Prof. Dr. Helmut Leder
University of Vienna
Head of Department of Psychological Basic Research
Faculty of Psychology
Dr. Sabine B. Vogel
Kunstkritikerin, Dozentin für Kunstgeschichte
University of Applied Arts Vienna
Mag. Ulrike Weiser
Redakteurin
Tageszeitung „Die Presse“
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All the submitted entries can be viewed under “submissions” as of right now. You can also use the Voting and Commentary functions. We look forward to seeing a lot of active participation!
The jury will compile the entries for publication in “Die Presse” in the next few days (independently from the voting function). More information will follow on this Website!
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New Extended Deadline! The new submission deadline is Thursday, 7.5.2009
Many designers from around the world have responded to our appeal in the meantime, and submitted a wide variety of suggestions and ideas. There are also some critical voices that express justified concern about the sense and purpose of such a loosely and broadly formulated appeal.
We aim to change reality by changing perception. Can visualized ideas that lead to new possibilities shed new light on worn behavioral patterns, offer a substantial critique on what exists, open doors and create a new image of reality? Or is it the other way around, meaning substance can only be changed by those who realize their ideas with concrete work in their everyday lives?
We want to collect as many ideas as possible, ranging from the utopian to the pragmatic, and make them accessible to a broad audience that goes beyond the secluded designer community.
It can hardly be said that communication designers can make the world better, but they are some of the few that can visualize ideas quickly and aptly. They use this potential for their own concerns far too rarely. This potential is almost indiscernible from the outside– for non-designers, maybe because designers rarely make themselves heard. Our appeal is meant to make this visible as well.
All the submitted contributions will be exhibited and published to reflect a cross section and variety of approaches to solutions and convictions. “Bad” work, hidden PR, advertising, criticism of the subject itself and many other aspects will be taken into account.
The jury has more of a supporting role, it will merely select what it considers the best projects for “Die Presse“, which unfortunately only publish a few submissions.
The work, and not us as individuals, will indicate approaches which will then be discussed. We provide the forum in which a possible discourse can develop. We do not want to steer things in a certain direction, we want the event to develop its own momentum and uniqueness. This also includes the discussion and questioning the purpose of our entire idea.
The discussion thereof is similar to the discussion surrounding the “First Things First” manifesto in 1964 and its new edition in 2001. Many well known designers took part in the discussion then and now a continuation is in order. We are planning a mixed discussion round in which others, and not only designers, will have a say. We are currently working on more ideas for a possible continuation of this discourse at the exhibition and on the web site.
With this in mind we look forward to receiving discursive yet succinct visual contributions up until May 7th.
Erwin K. Bauer
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The faith in unbounded consumption during the economic miracle of the 1960s seemed unshakeable. But in 1964, Ken Garland and a group of 22 prominent London-based graphic designers wrote the ground-breaking manifesto “First things first”. Advertising dog food, laundry detergent and credit cards with efficient design wasn’t enough. Social responsibility had to be at the heart of their work. New thinking had to supplant the uniformity of financially rewarding advertising jobs.
There was a brief stir in the design scene, but not much happened. Critical energy was drawn off by lucrative day-to-day business. Rising sales figures caused by perfect target group acquisition and the stylizing of brands as the new guiding idols of our consumer society seem to justify this development.
The apogee has been passed, “The Crisis” provides us with something we hardly would have considered possible: A breather in which we can once again ask if these contracts really are the only tasks for graphic designers. Superstars such as Stefan Sagmeister have been asking, “What does the world really need?” for quite some time. Sagmeister invented a road show with inflatable information graphics that contrast defense spending in the USA with educational spending. This action bus has been touring the country for years to generate a different form of awareness and call for investment in a more sensible future.
Many of us feel a deep sense of unease and initiate our own projects seeking to extricate ourselves from the seductive embrace of marketing and advertising. One of the great challenges of our global world is to minimize communication barriers and maximize understanding. We consider it our duty to point out sensitive social, political and ecological relationships and visualize them with greater clarity. We work on the intersection in which facts and structures are converted into understandable messages. The choice of what can be seen and experienced is a conscious decision we are involved in. “First Things First” is the title of the 1964 manifesto. Today we have to do one in another, since one of these socially relevant tasks can lie within every contract.
Erwin K. Bauer