One of the great things about the Madhouse studio is its location in the heart of Manchester. As well as the advantages of being connected to the city’s vibrant creative sector – not to mention the fantastic shopping and wonderful nearby sandwich shops! – it also means there’s a wealth of interesting galleries on our doorstep. And one that always delivers a satisfying lunch-time visit is the Cube Gallery just round the corner on Portland Street.
Manchester’s design community is currently beating a path to CUBE’s door to see the exhibition ‘Alan Fletcher: fifty years of graphic work (and play)’, a career retrospective focusing on one of Britain’s most successful and influential designers.
It includes illustration work from the nineteen fifties, early student graphic design projects, the growth of his various design consultancies including the pioneering Pentagram, his 21st century work with its playful approach to collage and type – and of course, no end of clever, witty, and often deceptively simple ideas. Fletcher certainly had a prolific career.
It’s worth remembering, too, that much of this stuff was produced without the aid of a keyboard and mouse; this is work that has rolled off the end of a pencil, that has been conceived and scamped and worked and amended via physical means, and while computers have made all kinds of things in our industry very much easier, they are no substitute for deep thought and good ideas.
Alan Fletcher’s work is inspirational stuff; and if nothing else, this exhibition provides a salient reminder that effective, memorable design work comes out of our heads, and is not to be dug out of the heart of our machines.
‘Alan Fletcher: Fifty years of graphic work (and play)’ runs at CUBE Gallery, Manchester, until April 3rd 2010.
Leave a comment
