The Designers Republic
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The Designers Republic (TDR or miTDR for short) is a group of graphic designers, founded on July 14, 1986 by Ian Anderson, and based in Sheffield, England. It is known for its anti-establishment aesthetics.
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[edit] History
Initially, Ian Anderson founded TDR to design flyers for the band Person to Person, which he managed at the time. His first ideas were inspired by Russian constructivism. From their beginning, the works should be viewed in contrast to the current understanding of design (Quote: TDR is a declaration of independence from what we perceive to be the existing design community).
An early client was Leeds band Age of Chance, for whom they developed a series of striking record covers from 1986-1987. The sleeve of Don't Get Mad ... Get Even was one of Q Magazine's 100 Best Record Covers Of All Time (2001).
The Designers Republic were introduced to a larger audience by their record covers for the English electronica label Warp Records. They designed the covers of CDs by Autechre and Aphex Twin, but also for artists such as Fluke, Funkstörung, Supergrass, Pop Will Eat Itself and Towa Tei.
Outside of the musical sector, TDR created the visuals, packaging and manual for the PlayStation game Wipeout, the interface for the PC game Hardwar, and packaging and posters for the first Grand Theft Auto. They cooperated with the Swatch company in 1996 to design their own watch. They also designed the packaging for Sony's Aibo.
The book 3D → 2D: Adventures In And Out Of Architecture, released in 2001, was an architectural examination of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia presented in the graphic style of their previous work. The book was preordered by over 3,000 fans, but fell short of the expectations of some due to a lack of seemingly innovative material.
Current members are Ian Anderson, Nick Bax, Si Billam, Nathan Dytor, Jules Feely, Daniel Fleetwood, Martin Fewell, Steve McKevitt, Darren Pascoe and Richard Wright.
[edit] Influence
The work of TDR had great influence on the development of graphic design, especially in the fields of web and cover design in the electronica scene.
[edit] Style
The Designers Republic's works are playful and bright, but very minimalist, mixing images from Japanese anime cartoons and subvertized corporate logos, with a postmodern tendency towards controversial irony, featuring statements like "Work Buy Consume Die", "Customized Terror", "Buy nothing, pay now", or indeed ""Made In The Designers Republic"".
[edit] Works
TDR worked in a diverse range of media, including:
- Covers of CDs, vinyl records and DVDs
- Typography
- Web design
- Music video production
- Apparel design
- Packaging
- Corporate design
- Logo design
