The document discusses the graphic design influence of The Designers Republic in the 1990s. It summarizes that: 1) The Designers Republic were responsible for striking visual identities for artists and bands in the 1990s that matched the experimental electronica music on Warp Records. 2) Their designs used overlapping imagery, broken structures, dots, and graphic textures to portray the powerful sound of electronica music. 3) Their rule-breaking postmodern style had a large influence on both music promotion and other designers, and helped attract people to Warp Records through exciting artwork.

1. Digital Media (Lecture 3)
The Designers Republic
Influence on 90s club culture & music promotion
„DR‟s work is farm more graphic, unfolding with kinetic abandon across
the two dimensional flatness of the printed sheet.‟
„DR, like Makela, seem fully adapted to postmodern reality, treating it as
an invitation to surf opportunistically through the floating world of
corporate signs‟
Anderson believed that „postmodern design‟s use of retro and vernacular
imagery, there is a feeling that the culture has stalled, that there is nothing
left to invent and that „newness‟ can only lie in sampling and remixing
what already exists‟ (Anderson, I. in Poyner, R., 2003:103).
Nethertheless, his work proved highly influential throughout the 1990s as
the style‟s essence is replication. Anderson made use of dots, circles,
arrows, hearts, parallel lines and graph paper grips. He formed sheets of
graphic texture that merged together upon one another.
In an album cover for electronic artist „Magic Juan‟ the structure is
broken apart by a swarm of dots over the titlepiece…, which is shattered
horizontally. It creates the feeling that the cover has been shocked by
electric currents, shattering from the effect. This connotes that the album
is „hard to contain‟ and that the sound is too exhilarating for a person‟s
ears.
Poyner, R. (ed) (2003) ‘Techno’ in No more rules: graphic design and
postmodernism. London, Laurence King Publishing Ltd. Pp.96-118
In 1994, Designers Republic were introduced to a wider audience by their
album covers for artists and bands assigned to the electronica label Warp
Records and designed covers for artists such as Autechre, Pulp and Pop
Will Eat Itself… the latter being very similar to that of the design of
Magic Juan‟s album artwork.
Note the use of overlapping imagery and the broken structures – again
connoting the powerful and exciting sound of electronica in which
Anderson is trying to portray.
Jordan Burns

2. The Designers Republic are responsible for creating striking visual
identities for artists and bands in the 1990s. It were these designs that
attracted people to Warp Records – the exciting, new and postmodern
artwork in which TDR designed matched perfectly with the experimental,
forward-looking electronica music in which Warp released.
„People used to say „you‟re at Designer‟s Republic‟ because you break
the rules… we‟d say „we‟re not really, we just don‟t know the rules‟…”‟
“„…say a red car is yellow and you‟ll get a response… confront people‟s
conceptions of what is, by presenting what could be…‟”
- Ian Anderson
Burgoyne, P., 2009.Creative Review: The Designers Republic
Remembered. [online] Available at:
http://www.creativereview.co.uk/cr-blog/2009/january/the-designers-
republic-remembered [Accessed 22 October 2011]
As stated, The Designers Republic didn‟t know, nor care, for the apparent
„rules‟ of graphic design.
Designer‟s Republic‟s work influenced many others; one in particular I
found interesting was Corey Holms.
Shaughnessy, A. (ed) (2005) ‘Corey Holms interview’ in How to be a
graphic designer without losing your soul. UK, Laurence King
Publishing Ltd. Pp.131
They were able to create powerful dialogue in designs which contained
little to no words – they were able to communicate with their audience.
Their use of layers is notable – they created letters, diagrams, signs and
codes through the use of chopping and cutting up layers.
Their designs were exciting – and influenced other designers to go
against the „rules‟ and „norms‟ of graphic design.
Jordan Burns