Artist of the day: Artist of the Day, July 2, 2024: Alan Fletcher, a British graphic designer. (#2065)

Alan Gerard Fletcher (1938-2006) spent early years of his life in Nairobi, Kenya. His father was a civil servant in Kenya but as his father’s health declined considerably, his family moved to England when he was five. Fletcher enrolled himself at the Hammersmith School of Art and then went on to study at the Central School of Art. The latter offered him great opportunities as he trained under an eminent typographer Anthony Froshaug. Soon after graduation, he moved to Barcelona where he taught English at Berlitz Language School for a year. Upon his return to London, he attended the Royal College of Art (1953-1956). The same year he finished the school he married an Italian, Paola Biagi.

In 1962, he co-founded ‘Fletcher Forbes Gill’, in partnership with Colin Forbes and Bob Gill. The following year they produced Graphic Design: A Visual Comparison. Some of their leading clients included Olivetti, Pirelli, Cunard and Penguin Books. In a few years, Gill left the firm and was replaced by Theo Crosby. The firm evolved into Pentagram in 1972, as two more partners joined it and some noted clients sought their expertise, such as Lloyd’s of London and Daimler Benz.

After decades of producing innovative and inspiring work, he left Pentagram in 1992. Henceforth, he worked from his home in Notting Hill, where his daughter Raffaella Fletcher assisted him. In 1993, he joined the Phaidon Press for which he produced majority of work as art director in his later life. Fletcher believed that design and life are two inseparable things as he put it in the words, “Design is a way of life.” In 1994.

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