Ed Fella talks about under the radar design in this interview with Little and Company. He shows a scrapbook of his substantial collection of everyday items that fascinate him. He admits that professional designers probably didn’t even design these things, like take-out menus, ticket stubs, etc but he describes them as a vernacular of everyday design.
These small printed pieces don’t get our attention, but we see them everyday. This is why they’re under the radar, and Fella has gained an appreciation of something that so many of us take for granted. Although it makes me realize something about design in general – you’re not SUPPOSED to notice it. I mean, designers will notice it but not too many other people will notice the placement of type that you slaved for 8 hours over. Is there some design that is more important than others? Is the website of Barack Obama more important than the Metro-North ticket stub that some people use every day? I know for a fact that not much time went into the Metro-North ticketing system, but they probably weren’t working with a huge marketing budget.