Back in the 90’s the Sheffield design studio, <a href=http://thedesignersrepublic.com/" target="_blank">the Designers Republic, dominated the art of album design, primarily for the work they did for Warp Records. Their highly influential album art inevitable led to many imitators, ultimately diluting their signature style. For the past few years tDR fell off of many design radars. Creative Review now reports that the famous studio is calling it quits. Retiring 23 years of work, Ian Anderson says the closing of the studio is a "blessing in disguise… It does feel like the end of an era but really it stopped being DR two or three years ago. DR will go forward after this with me [under the same name] – whether it will be with a new team and a new office I don’t know.”

We doubt this will be the last we see of Designers Republic, it will definitely live on in some form. Michael C. Place, former designer at DR, designed the dead logo above.