Saturday, 23 March 2013

Alan Fletcher

The late, great Alan Fletcher is perhaps well-remembered as one of Britain's most recognised designers, especially thanks to his creations of now world-famous logos.

Fletcher's instantly recognisable logo for the Victoria & Albert
Museum, London. 
Having quite a childhood where he was moved around the world (from Kenya where he was born to England and then moved around there) Fletcher finally found his feet in 1949 when he began his art studies which eventually lead him on to study at the Central School of Art and the Royal College of Art where he studied alongside and befriended many now well-known designers including Ken Garland, Peter Blake and Len Deighton. In the 1950's Fletcher also accepted a scholarship to study at Yale University under prolific designers such like Paul Rand and Josef Albers at their School of Architecture and Design.

After his what seems like many years of studying and tutoring, Alan went on to design for brands including Pirelli, Cunard and Penguin Books with "Crosby/Fletcher/Forbes" alongside his collaborative partners Colin Forbes and Theo Forbes (who later went on to, along with the introduction of a few more designers, establish themselves as "Pentagram", a collective who I have discussed in a previous blog entry).

As well as his design work and having his work exhibited globally, Fletcher is also a well-established author who released multiple books under the theme of design.

Fletcher's work will remain as some of Britain's best in the design field, in my opinion.  His V&A logo for the London Museum is instantly recognisable and still as heavily used now in the field of British Art & Design as it was back when it was first designed and used over 20 years ago. A huge inspiration to me, Fletcher's simplistic yet bold style of working really has an effect on some of my work and I'm sure will do for other artists/designers for many, many years to come.

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