Ed Fella

Ed Fella born 1938 in Detroit Michigan

Ed Fella is an artist, educator and graphic designer. What he has been truly noted for is his important influence on contemporary typography due to his compelling and unique work. By the mashing of fonts while engaging in visual puns that violate all the rules of good design. His typography work was elastic and did not follow the grid that can be seen in all other typography. He had been working as a professional commercial artist in the Detroit area for the last 30 years, when he received an MFA in design from the Cranbrook Academy of Art in 1987. Other awards he has received has been the Chrysler Award in 1997, an honorary doctorate from CCS in 1999 and in 2007 he became an AIGA Medallist.


Ed Fella has amassed a huge amount of work all done by hand using everything from crayons, colouring pencils and ball point pen. His inspiration comes from common signs that can be seen when walking a street, using that material and personalising it with his own twist by hacking, swirling, and stretching. He has continually worked against typographic comformity, deconstructing the primary principles that designers are taught, showing a new way to see type.