Who Are We? (part:6) ...

This weeks designer needs no real introduction. He is by far the biggest name I have chosen to highlight since I began this dive into the graphic design history. I would have to think that at some point in every designers education this man would be brought to the forefront and honored for his contribution to our field.

Alan Fletcher is a graphic design god of his generation. He is from the earlier tradition of graphic design where computers where just a vision of the future and everything was created by hand. Those of us today who are either about to graduate or our careers are just starting to blossom probably have no real understanding for how this approach to design really took place. I am part of that group. From what I understand though, it was not easy and extremely time consuming.

Alan Fletcher's honors and positions are too many to list which should explain why when he died in 2006, The Daily Telegraph described him as "the most highly regarded graphic designer of his generation, and probably one of the most prolific". If you want to see just a few of his great accomplishments, check out his page on Wikipedia. One work of art that I would highly recommend to any graphic designer, or artist for that matter, is the book that he published in 2001 called "The art of looking sideways". It took him 18 years to complete this book and it is obvious that this was his life. There is an interview about the book on YouTube if you want to know more.

I am going to leave you with a quote from his book about design that I have always liked. "Who ever said pleasure wasn't functional?" - Charles Eames

Check back this week. I have some great post coming, I just need to do a little more reflecting on them before I can post them.