Alan Fletcher
Alan Fletcher The simplicity of design. It is best shown through world-wide known designer Alan Fletcher. Fletcher plays with interchanging positive and negative shapes, manipulates light and shade; and deliberately distorts dimensions and perspectives to make the most simplistic forms possible. Alan was born in Kenya on September 27, 1931. His father was a civil servant, and he and his family returned to England at age five when his father became deathly ill. He lived with his mother and grandparents until 1939 when they were forced to evacuate London. He attended Christ’s Hospital, a boarding school, where he was taught to become either a solider, banker, or priest. Fletcher went against the grain, not wanting a career in any of these fields. During the 1950s he attended 4 different art schools. Where he met some of his future partners of Pentagram. In 1962, Fletcher, former classmate Collin Forbes and US designer Bob Gill to create Fletcher/Forbes/Gill. Late Gill leaves and Theo Crosby joins and the company grows. It grows from London to New York City, to Austin, to San Francisco. Fletcher left the company in 1992 to live with his wife in Notting Hill. He set up his own independent studio. In 1994 he became art director at the Phaldon Press. And in 2006, Fletcher died in East Sussex, England.
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“
If your mind is too open
people can throw all kinds of
rubbish in it.” 3
These images show a range of Fletcher’s work throughout his career. The oldest being his drawing of Manhattan. He explains that the drawing is his view of the city from the Tarboro Bridge. This drawing explains Manhattan in the most simplistic way. He uses typography to represent the amazing sky-scrappers of the city, and you get a sense of how Fletcher pictures the world. Top left: One of Fletcher’s most famous works. It is the logo for the Victoria and Albert museum in London. It was designed in 1989 and is still used today. The type face is originally designed by Giambattista Bodoni. The problem was trying to connect the different letters. The solution was to divide and remove half of one letter. Top right: The cover to Fletcher’s book/biography of his work. The book took many years to make and shows some of Fletcher’s best works. The book also includes other artists descriptions and opinions to Fletcher’s work.
I find going to bed and pulling my
imagination over my head often means waking up with a solution to a design problem. That state of limbo, the time between sleeping and waking, seems to allow ideas to somehow outflank the sentinels of common sense. That’s when they can float to the surface. I find ideas often show up in the shower, or while I’m contemplating marmalade and toast for breakfast.” - Alan Fletcher
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Fletcher’s design for the cover of his book Leaning Tower of Pisa; Fletcher makes the ground slanted rather than the tower.
Writing architecture Fletcher’s idea of the view of Man-
Fletcher’s winning design for Mercedes 100th anniversary of the automobile.
The logo for the Queen Victoria and Prince Albert Museum
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When you look through-out this page you will first notice Fletcher’s use of reds and yellows. Red, being the one of the brightest colors, catches the human eye’s attention. Many of these designs, such as the Solan suntan lotion, are posters for companies, and catching a person’s eye is their whole point. In the Solan poster, Fletcher uses only four colors, and just two colors to create the shape of a human face. 1.9.39-1.9.89- a poster created to mark the 50th anniversary of Hitler’s invasion into Poland and the start of WWII.
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Brightness
Fletcher spent years collecting different food labels to create posters such as this.
d, o o g m Ia n e h W do o g y r I am ve am bad, I When etter! I am b
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of t r A e
Th
Mak
rds o W ing
! m a re
Sc
!
These words provoke a feeling that corresponds to the image. Through imagery, the slanting of each line, and the use of all capital letters, you believe that this man is yelling at you. Then you read what is being written, and possibly laugh a little. Fletcher was a humorous guy.
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From making words scream, to making words move. Fletcher has changed the way we normally read words in order to enhance the imagery of what is being said. These words become an image. That represents the ability of turning tires on curving roads.
The Art of
making words
e.
v
Mo
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A day in the life “Received a call from a multinational corporation to attend a briefing in Holland. We have a company plane, they explained, that will be ready to leave Gatwick at 8:30am on Monday morning.‘Be there’. Staggered out of bed at 5:00am, too late for coffee, took a taxi to Victoria Station, a train to Gatwick, arrived at the check-in desk, was whisked off to a mini-bus, and arrived at the open door of an eight-seater corporate jet. A hostess with a clipboard raised a smile and asked my name. ‘Odd’, she said, ‘there are already two on board with that name and the plane is full.’ The explanation was overbooking. Someone had assumed there was only one Fletcher, and that the three different Fletchers were one and the same. Returned to the terminal, the train, the taxi, and got home for breakfast. Phone call to the client. Sorry, and all that, come tomorrow on a regular flight. ‘Be in Eindhoven at 2pm.’Up again at 5:00am, too late for coffee.Taxi to Heathrow, ran to check-in desk, rushed off to plane. ‘Sorry’ announced the air hostess, ‘no coffee- it’s only a short hop’. Rushed from plane to taxi. Was deposited to Rotterdam railway station. Bar open but train just about to leave. Into train- no buffet. Arrived at Eindhoven, saw cafe but was running late. Jumped into taxi. Arrived at headquarters. Conducted up to executive boardroom full of replete suits (it was just after lunch) finishing cigars over empty coffee cups. They got down to business. Once finished it was pointed out that I could make the last flight back to London; if I was quick. Down the elevator, into a taxi to the station... you’ve got the story. Arrived home after midnight. Had strong coffee. Couldn’t sleep all night. And swore never to travel more than 50 miles without staying the night, or leaving the previous day, at the client’s expense. Incidentally I never got the job.”
Fletcher, Alan, and Jeremy Myerson. Beware Wet Paint. London: Phaidon, 1996. Print. Alan Fletcher: Fifty Years of Graphic Work (and Play) : - Design/Designer Information.� Design Museum, 18 Feb. 2007. Web. Fletcher, Alan. The Art of Looking Sideways. London: Phaidon, 2001. Print. Fletcher, Alan. 100 Maverick Postcards. London: Phaidon, 2004. Print. Adobe Garamond: digital interpretation of the roman types of Claude Garamond and the italic types of Robert Granjon; 1989. Copyright 2013, Danielle Dutile, Portlamd, ME, Maine College of Art
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