Ian Anderson A to Z of The Designers Republic

The Designers RepublicTM is the design group that changed design. But there’s never been a book that tells its story - until now. Led by founder and born rebel, Ian Anderson, The Designers RepublicTM has shaped graphic communication over the past thirty years through rule-defying music work, provocative self-initiated projects and a fierce commitment to conceptual thinking over style. Now, for the first time in book form, Anderson explores the studio’s output, and its influence on a generation of graphic designers. AZTDRTM spans over three decades of work – from the studio’s earliest designs for the FON label in the mid-1980s and sleeves for Age of Chance, Chakk and Cabaret Voltaire, right up to its recent projects for The Cinematic Orchestra, Led Bib and the Gulbenkian Foundation. Alongside classic self-initiated TDRTM projects, the 512-page book features an A to Z of everything from campaigns for Evolution Print, Coca-Cola and Nike, through to the studio’s celebrated designs for video games such as Wipeout and Formula Fusion. TDRTM’s special relationship with print is explored through its celebrated contributions to IDEA and Emigre magazines and its 3D>2D book, alongside its work for Manchester School of Art, Gatecrasher, NY Sushi and the studio’s array of music clients. Here, TDRTM’s work with Autechre is examined via ten key releases, while the studio’s involvement with Pop Will Eat Itself focuses on some twenty-eight different singles and albums. There are also expansive sections devoted to TDRTM’s designs for Aphex Twin, Moloko, Sun Electric and The Orb, alongside sleeve designs for R&S Records, New Atlantis, a range of Berlin-based labels and, of course, Warp Records.