His journey began when he was given his name (Fikret: Thinking, idea, mind, brain; getting lost in thought) in Istanbul one day in 1966… Ever since then, he has been trying to live up to it. First, he wanted to learn a trade at the Department of Painting and Decorating at Maçka Vocational High School; then he realised that his profession should be “learning.” The idea that “Everything which can be seen has its own unique journey” became a sweet obsession. Whilst studying Graphic Design at the Faculty of Fine Arts at Marmara University, he understood that the more he learned, the less he knew. After years spent working long hours at agencies, he graduated in 1987. He chased a dream all the way to Eskişehir, to be an instructor at a newly established school of art and design, in the very heart of Anatolia.
He was the first student from Turkey to study visual communication at the Art Centre College of Design (E) in Switzerland. He shared his knowledge, attended workshops and conferences, and gave lectures in various countries and regions, including the United States, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Spain, India, South Korea, China, and North Cyprus. 38 years after he began his journey in higher education, they put the title “Professor” in front of his name, and he’s still trying to get accustomed to it…
His book Visual Communication and Graphic Design is currently in its 10th printing, and thousands of its readers have been courteous enough to share ideas and comments pertaining to it. He has had many teachers, and many students, some whose names he doesn’t know, but he has learned a lot from every one of them. He has been lecturing at the Graphic Design department at Anadolu University’s Faculty of Fine Arts for 32 years, and experiences the joy of learning something new every day.
He continues to practice the saying, “We talk with words, and understand via concepts; graphic design means turning concepts into forms”…
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