The Designers Republic
The Designers Republic (TDR) was a group of graphic designers founded on July 14, 1986 by Ian Anderson in Sheffield . TDR mainly created the cover design for CDs, records and DVDs, but were also active in the fields of typography , web design , video production, fashion and packaging design, corporate design and logo design . TDR's design has always been characterized by a minimalist approach. The designers often used elements such as Japanese cartoons , variations of well-known company logos and large-format lettering with supposedly consumer-critical statements such as “ Work Buy Consume Die ” or “ Customized Terror ”. Her works had a significant influence on the development of graphic design , especially cover design in the electronica scene.
In 2009 TDR filed for bankruptcy.
history
Ian Anderson founded TDR initially to design the flyers for the concerts of the band Person to Person, which he managed at the time . He took his first ideas from Russian constructivism . Right from the start, the works should represent a contrast to the current understanding of design (quote: TDR is a declaration of independence from what we perceive to be the existing design community ).
The Designers Republic became known to a wider public through the cover designs for the English electronica label Warp Records . TDR created, among other things, the covers of the CDs of Autechre and Aphex Twin but also other artists such as Funkstören , Supergrass , Pop Will Eat Itself and Towa Tei .
TDR also created the design for packaging and instructions as well as logos for the Playstation game WipEout and its successors Wipeout 2097 and Wip3out. In cooperation with the Swatch company , TDR designed its own watch in 1996.
In 2001 the book " 3D - 2D The Designers Republic's adventures in and out of Architecture " was published, which shows an overview of various works by the group. The book was pre-ordered by more than 3,000 fans even before it was released. In 2005 the book " Brain Aided Design " was published.
Former members include Ian Anderson , Darren Pascoe , Richard Wright , Rob Brearley , Tom Smith , Nicole Jacek , Lydia Lapinski , Nick Tymn , Lois Graves , Marc Allott, and Ash Spurr .
In the wake of the financial crisis from 2007 onwards , The Designers Republic had to be dissolved in January 2009. The reasons were the loss of important customer orders, unsuccessful pitches , a significant back tax payment and the poor payment behavior of a major customer.