The exhibition on Alan Fletcher at the design museum didn’t need much of an introduction. His design work is the kind that makes the smile in your mind talk to the muscles in your mouth. Blotchy ink lines that aren’t scared to make mistakes. Small marks that create loud reactions. The exhibition showcases his life of design. The design of his life. Each piece of work has a clear and simple reason for exisiting and proves to communicate this 20, 30, 40 years after its creation.

Straight away it’s his commercial work. I breathe alot of ‘I don’t want to work with corporate clients’ and here was work that combusted each one of those words. To the right, a collection of personal christmas card, a replication is below because the internet wasn’t talking:

alan fletcher christmas
The little christmas tree

Graphis, 1960’s issues of ARC - the royal college of art zine, the V&A logo, sketch books, inky lines, blotchy views of ireland from wales, arrays of letterheads, packets of found letters, collages where evian becomes naive. A movie in the corner of Alan talking with tired eyes. A blurb about him leaving Pentagram after corporate became consumerist. The design for his alphabet iron gates - the Q is the gate stop. And the smile from your mind upon your lips becomes bittersweet as everything seems strangely familiar. You’ve seen it all before from your contempories. And comforted by the fact that this is real design, and you will never forget it.