Alan Fletcher, one of PG's tips

Peter Gabriel acclaims Phaidon's The Art of Looking Sideways in 'So' 2012 tour programme

Alan Fletcher's incredible graphics primer gets singer's endorsement in Back To Front tour programme

Plenty of recording artists don't look for inspiration far beyond the mini-bar, so we were heartened to see Peter Gabriel is still reading around the subject of modern creativity.

Within the programme for this autumn's Back To Front tour - undertaken to mark the 25th anniversary of his triple-platinum selling album, So - Gabriel offers a brief list of his enthusiasms, which he groups together under an "On My Radar" rubric.

Alongside esoteric diets and listening suggestions, we were delighted to see Alan Fletcher's 2001 book, The Art of Looking Sideways, receive Gabriel's endorsement.

Gabriel and the late, great British graphic designer do have something of a professional relationship; the singer's human-rights charity, Witness, has worked with Pentagram, the communications agency Fletcher co-founded.

Fletcher's book, as you'd imagine, is a near-inexhaustible source of 2-D inspiration. Avoiding the dull didactics common in some graphics primers, The Art of Looking Sideways sees Fletcher pull together the most heterogeneous sources of design inspiration, as he explores perception, language, style and aesthetics. Hear Alan himself offer an account of the book below, and if you like what you read, click here. After all, Mr Gabriel approves.

 

Alan Fletcher: The Art of Looking Sideways