Megan's Blog

Edward Fella, who was born in Detroit in 1939, will be forever remembered as a pioneer of graphic design. He was born into a working middle-class family and started out at trade school, with prior knowledge or experience with art. His contribution to this field in both the United States and Europe is remarkable; he has influenced many artists during his lifetime. His influence on the world of contemporary typography is also something that has set him apart from other artists of his time. His work is very unique and personal typography. He has described himself as a “commercial artist,” because he is working to please the public and create art that will be reproduced and distributed to the masses.

His career began in the 1950’s in the advertising world. The most interesting aspect of Fella’s career is that he was an extremely successful typographer and designer before he even went to art school. As a young boy he loved to read, which most likely contributed to his creativity and love for experimentation. He would take night-class on Literature, and Popular Culture, in order to familiarize himself with the world.

He is known for his eccentric letter forms and compositions, which has allowed to stand out amongst other artists and has also earned him many awards. Ed Fella’s thesis statement reads, “Design is an assigned sign, playing air art with no caution but obedience, posing ordering systems as explorations and indulging the same self again anew while attending and singing in a strict construct makes me nuts.” It is obvious that Fella doesn’t think the same way that everyone else does, but from simply reading his thesis statement, it is obvious that he is a creative person who is very dedicated and passionate about his work.

According to Drawings and Graphic Design by Ed Fella and Geoff McFetridge Redcat by Stacey Allan, Ed Fella is “among Detroit's greatest contributions to American popular culture. He was known by many as the “King of Zing” which was a title that he earned during his years as a graphic designer. While he was working mainly on layouts and commercial graphic illustrations for automotive industry, he was always working on a crazy side project at night, for his own enjoyment.

“Fella was essentially self-taught, but his rule breaking method was grounded.” In Fella’s mid forties, he gave up his job as a commercial designer, and decided that it was time he went back to school, looking for an experimental and self-directed academic experience. He decided to attend the Cranbrook Academy of Art in the year of 1987. Cranbrook was a school located in an affluent area of Detroit. Cranbrook was founded by a Finnish architect who integrated the design theories of the Arts and Crafts Movement with the international style. The students at Cranbrook were put into an apprenticeship program, where very small groups of people were taught under one master artist for the entire semester. While at Cranbrook, Fella served as more of a teacher than a student, because of his extensive knowledge and success in the field. He became a very influential and important member of this highly acclaimed art school.

Although he has been proclaimed as a great success and addition to his field, just like many artists, he also received a lot of criticism because his work was so different from that of the students and artists around him. His work definitely contradicted any form of “slick” and simple design that had been accepted at that time. He presents an aesthetic that can be described as the “anti-aesthetic” where type has no uniform spacing, and “rough letter forms,” are mixed with “degraded found lettering.” Fella has suggested that “the quest for the perfect letter, word, and line-spacing had led to some stifling of expression…the element of time needed to read parts of a message, deserved more time and flexibility” Fella handcrafted and created most of his typefaces, making each one extremely unique. None of his fonts could ever be recreated or copied, which makes his work so timeless and powerful. He used many different techniques to create his fonts, using every type of media available, and scanned, teared, ripped, and wrinkled his creations to create texture and interest. He would do anything and everything to create the exact look he was going for, even if he didn't know what that was.

After he graduated from Cranbrook, he went on to become a teacher at California Institute of the Arts in 1987.A student commented on the large impact that Fella had on the school, saying “The man who talked our ears off at Cranbrook is the real deal. He mistrusts computers. And he very rarely-okay, never- backs down from a position. He is not stubborn, he is just three steps ahead of the design community.” He was a huge inspiration to his students, and even co-workers. By the 90’s, his work was become more and more well known. His success was even farther expanded through his creation of posters, to promote visiting artists to the CalArts. His posters were said to break away from traditional typographic decorum, and designer good taste. Fella referred to graphic design as “mix and match, past and present, high and low, regular and irregular, inept, and professional, raw and cooked and everything in between. He was one of the first to break away from traditional graphic design of his time. This is something I admire greatly about Fella, instead of coming into his field and simply improving upon what had already been done, he completely changed it and made graphic design his own. The hand-made work of his posters were so different from everyone was used to, and in some cases it was hard for people to accept.

In 1987, while Fella was still teaching at CalArts, he went on a research trip to San Fransisco. There he found new inspiration from local street signs, and from this he made a catalog quick snapshots. From this he received various jobs from the Detroit arts organization, and began creating hand-lettered announcements for the Detroit Focus Galley. These designs have inspired many of the modern typefaces that we use today.

Even after Fella left the advertising world, he was not able to get away from his life as an artist. Many artists face the same problem that Fella faced when he retired from his professional design job, they cannot get away from it. It is impossible to stop being a creative person, so Fella continued his art through over 80 sketchbooks filled with drawings, doodles, and lavishly adorned letter forms. “These notebooks became a kind of discharge for me,” Fella said. "I'm like a machine that used to knock out widgets and still produces fragments of whatever it used to make — except now, I don't have to take any more instructions.” Although he wasn’t working as a professional, he was still just as inspired and dedicated to his art, which is a sign of a true artist, someone who isn’t doing it for the paycheck, but for the pure enjoyment they receive from their work.

Edward Fella blurred the lines of graphic design and art through his very unique compositions and typefaces. During his career he creates many different typeface that greatly influenced the world of typography. Two fonts that he have created that were mass produced and used around the world were, “Fella Parts,” and “OutWest.” These fonts are both very unique and would only be used for large headlines, because they would be very difficult to read at a small size. Although Fella created thousands upon thousands of letter forms, those two are the only ones that were named and reproduced. He didn't seem to be concerned with creating set fonts, but instead making something unique and different every time.

Today you can purchase a book entitled, “Letters on America,” which includes over 1,200 pictures of various sketches and letter forms created by Fella. They depict his bold and unique take on graphic design. It displays, “hand-printed messages, stick-on letters, graffiti, even initials and names cut into the bark of trees.” This book is a wonderful testament to his life as a designer, and showcases some of the work that he has dedicated his time and creativity to.

Researching and learning about Edward Fella, was very inspiring, because he took the world of graphic design and typography and turned it upside down. He broke the rules because he wanted to and not to please anyone else. He created art that felt right to him, and conveniently the world around him also appreciated it. I admire this artist because I would love to be someone who could change the world of graphic design. Even if it is just in a small way, I want to be someone who doesn't follow the same rules as everyone else. I hope that in the future I can work on projects like Fella did, and find the same enjoyment that he did out of creating his designs.

FellaParts