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Looking Closer 4: Critical Writings on Graphic Design Michael Bierut, William Drental, and Steven Heller, eels. 2002. New York, NY: Allworth Press. [ISBN 1-58115235-3. 291 pages, including index. $21.95 USD (softcover).]
Looking closer 4: Critical -writings on graphic design is the fourth hook in a series by Allworth Press that compiles pertinent writings on graphic design. This installment contains the major topics of discourse published in leading graphic design trade publications from 1997-2000. The editors have divided the essays into seven categories that correspond to the most prevailing themes of this time period. Each category begins with a brief introduction to its respective theme by one of the editors.
The first section, "To the barricades," is the focal point for the entire volume. The criticisms in this section concern the First Things First Manifesto 2000 (F'l'F 2000), a revision of a manifesto written in the politically charged early '60s. The original document, written by a prominent designer and signed by 21 of his colleagues, was a call to action for the profession to become more socially conscious about its contributions to the world. Too many graphic designers, the manifesto argued, were focusing their talents on selling things (through advertisements, packaging, and products) rather than on communicating essential information. Designers, it warned, were too easily taken in by the "affluent consumer society" (p. H) and, as a result, were ignoring their ability to contribute meaningful, thought-provoking, and useful tools of communication to society.
In 1999, a new group of young designers reintroduced the tenets of the original FTP, which, they proclaim, were forgotten once the radicalism of the '60s subsided. According to the writers and proponents of the new FIT 2000, societal "consumerism" has gone unhindered for over 30 years, and, as a result, "the [graphic design] profession's time and energy are used up manufacturing demand for things that are inessential at best" (p. 5). Furthermore, the current environment of the profession is one in which "advertising and design are closer today than at any point since the 1960s" (p. 9). This precarious "partnership" between corporate advertising and graphic design-introduced in Rick Poynor's essay-is a hot button that appears throughout this book with arguments both for and against it.
Overall, this section of Looking closer 4...