Ed Fella

For other people named Ed Fella, see Ed Fella (disambiguation).

Edward Fella
Occupation	Graphic Designer / Educator
Known for	Freelance Designer / Author
Website
edfella.com

Ed Fella (born 1938 in Detroit) is an artist, educator and graphic designer whose work has had an important influence on contemporary typography. Ed worked as a commercial artist designing brochures and illustrations. He practiced professionally as a commercial artist in Detroit for 30 years before receiving an MFA in Design from the Cranbrook Academy of Art in 1987. He has since devoted his time to teaching at the California Institute of the Arts and his own unique self-published work which has appeared in many design publications and anthologies. In 1997 he received the Chrysler Award, in 1999 an Honorary Doctorate from CCS in Detroit and in 2007 he became an AIGA Medalist. His work is in the National Design Museum and MoMA in New York. Ed has also produced many drawn sketchbooks, which can be viewed on his personal website. His work contains a grid-less typography.Fellas technique is outstanding due to the fact that he does everything by hand, a true artist, in every sense of the word. He was the first graphic designer to push the envelope and in a way go against what everyone was used to seeing frm the Swiss typography. Fellas work is gridless, its freelance, its expression in a non structured way. He has built a career of over 30 years in his profession of design still using pencils, ballpoint pens, crayons, knives, etc., refusing to use the computer, as a way of still capturing the purity and natural settings of our society. Ed Fella has stated, " .. there comes a time where you have to pack it up and retire .. you stop, you dont compete with the current generation .. you let them have all the money, all the work, all the glory. Thirty years is enough. You wont be burnt out and you can have another career."

Early life

Ed Fella was born in 1938 in Detroit and currently lives in Los Angeles. He spent over thirty years working as a commercial artist in Detroit. He worked on several different pieces of work that he contributed to different galleries. During that time is when he began his teaching proffession; he gave lectures to students at the Cranbrook Academy of Art. His new love of teaching inspired him to become a student at the Academy and receive his masters degree. In 1987, he began teaching design at the California Institute of the Arts, where he still teaches today. His spare time is devoted to self expression and experimentation with typography. He started his drawing and typography work in sketchbooks. He has drawn in sketchbooks for over thirty-seven years. Ed Fellas work has been shown in Eye Magazine in Europe.

Greatest Achievements

AIGA says "The medal of the AIGA, the most distinguished in the field, is awarded to individuals in recognition of their exceptional achievements, services or other contributions to the field of graphic design and visual communication." [1] Edward Fella received this award in 2007 along with Ellen Lupton, Bruce Mau and Georg Olden. In 1987 he also received an MFA in design from the Cranbrook Academy of Art.

Letters on America

Letters on America is Ed Fellas first published book. This book contains photographs, shot with a Polaroid camera of vanaculor America. Photographs of highways, street-signs, random lettering, basically street culture in which Fella created collages to create one cohesive image. Fella describes the invention of the digital camera, ".. the end of an era." Colleges of Fella call him "The King of Zing" due to his free style illustrations. This book contains many images Ed Fella across America. Some pages in this book contain hand drawn lettering in pen, which further demonstrates Fellas unique style and creativity.

Said by: Ed Fella

• "Execution before conception."
• "Meaning before perception."
• "More is less."
• "Forget about history, So you can repeat it."
• "I've drawn since I was a kid. My mother said I was the easiest of her five children because all she had to do was give me a pencil and paper and I would go in a corner and draw all day."

Sources

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Pieces of Art

• Fella1.png
• Fella2.jpg
• Fella incerpts.jpg
• More Incerpts.jpg
• Fella5.jpg
• Fella6.jpg