AN UNCONVENTIONAL PUBLICATION // ED FELLA: SOMETHING LESS OBVIOUS
concept + brief
This project centers around the life and design philosophy of Ed Fella, a Detroit-based designer and educator at Cal Arts. Known for his unconventional approach, Fella’s work blurred the line between graphic design and art.
“So far nobody’s been able to theorize the work or categorize it because there is no such category that encompasses art, poetry, and graphic design, or typography and lettering all as a single practice.”
“So far nobody’s been able to theorize the work or categorize it because there is no such category that encompasses art, poetry, and graphic design, or typography and lettering all as a single practice.”
-Ed Fella, 2010, Paper Magazine
tech + specs
The project, Ed Fella: Something Less Obvious, is a pocket-sized folder with three mini booklets titled
“Learn,” “Bend,” and “Make”, each labeled and color-coded. The folder and booklets are printed on textured paper, encouraging interaction and wear over time.
The folder’s non-linear structure mirrors Fella’s own journey as a designer and educator. Each booklet can be read in any order, allowing the user to interact with the contents in a way that reflects Fella’s creative spontaneity and philosophy.
“Learn,” “Bend,” and “Make”, each labeled and color-coded. The folder and booklets are printed on textured paper, encouraging interaction and wear over time.
The folder’s non-linear structure mirrors Fella’s own journey as a designer and educator. Each booklet can be read in any order, allowing the user to interact with the contents in a way that reflects Fella’s creative spontaneity and philosophy.
research
Evoking the essence of a designer without directly copying their work requires a careful amount of research and knowledge of the person, who they are, and why their work looks the way it does.
direction
Eventually, based on the feeling his work gave me, the contents were designed to be removed, handled, and reinserted, allowing the user to make the folder their own, much like Ed Fella’s zines from the 1980s Detroit graphic design scene. His work encouraged independent thought, freestyle, and spontaneity while also staying true to the foundations of typography and graphic design.
body of work
Fella’s work is largely split between his own personal design eras - first working as a commercial designer for automotive magazines and printwork early on in his career, then moving into more abstract zines and prints for smaller, more personal exploration, then finally going to Cal Arts and teaching Master’s students about design and building from what he learned from them into his post-teaching era. Each part of his career is documented differently and looks different, too.
commercial
Ed Fella began his career as an in-house designer for various automotive companies in the Detroit area. He focused on more practical and less exploratory design, which gave him a stable foundation of skills and income to create. In his off time he also created several print projects and worked with the local art scene in Detroit, spreading his typography everywhere with the philosophy that design should be printed and mass produced, and thus shared with as many as possible.
zines + cal arts
Once he decided that he was done working in the industry as a designer, it was time for him to visit California and start teaching masters students at Cal Arts. He had a lot of industry experience and was now older, yet he was still willing to try new things and expand his design to be more abstract, more considered, yet still keep within his fundamental skills.
post-teaching
Finally, once he was done teaching, it was then when he decided to he an exit level designer.
writing phase +
defining target audience
It was then time to write the bulk of the publication’s material, digging deeper into the philosophy behind Ed Fella’s art and design and his origins shaping his work. The target audience includes design students, enthusiasts of Ed Fella’s work, and anyone interested in unconventional approaches to design and art.
The folder acts as an exploration into Fella’s philosophy that design should have a purpose, while art does not —inviting the audience to physically interact with and experience the material.
The folder acts as an exploration into Fella’s philosophy that design should have a purpose, while art does not —inviting the audience to physically interact with and experience the material.
grids
I found that working on this project involved not only exploring Ed Fella’s designs but also adopting his unconventional, almost cryptic approach to visual communication.
The challenge was to design something that embodied his work’s layered complexity, where meaning is often hidden within folds and textures, much like his critics experienced when trying to interpret his work.
The challenge was to design something that embodied his work’s layered complexity, where meaning is often hidden within folds and textures, much like his critics experienced when trying to interpret his work.
zine production + process
test prints
what i learned
From this project, I learned how to design something tactile and interactive while still staying true to a specific philosophy. It pushed me to think about how design can evolve through use and how a non-linear structure can still communicate a clear narrative when approached from different angles. The creative process deepened my understanding of how design can both confuse and inspire when it breaks away from traditional timelines and expectations.
