Designers Republic founder joins NEon line up
Ian Anderson, founder of the Designers Republic, one of Britain’s most influential design studios, has confirmed that he will join the growing line up for NEoN Digital Arts Festival.
Established in 1986, The Designer’s Republic created iconic designs and campaigns for the world’s biggest brands, including Orange, Coca-Cola, Sony, Nokia, MTV and Nike.
The group also designed promotional material for bands and artists including Aphex Twin, Gatecrasher, Pop Will Eat Itself, Supergrass, Squarepusher and Nine Inch Nails, as well as game studios Electronic Arts and DMA Design (now Rockstar North), creators of Grand Theft Auto.
Perhaps one of their most high profile projects was their involvement with the Playstation launch title Wipeout, here they helped turn a great game into a cultural classic through the use of cutting edge iconography and graphic design, this later led to them designing special edition magazine covers for EDGE magazine.
Following the studio’s closure in January 2009, Anderson’s presence at NEoN will provide a insight into what the future holds for The Designers Republic, design itself, and Ian’s own philosophy, as well as a rare opportunity to pose questions to the man himself.
Anderson will be speaking on Saturday 14th of November at the Dalhousie Building in Dundee as part of the festival’s speaker sessions, which also include Bud Luckey, character designer for Pixar; Alice Taylor, commissioning editor for Channel 4; the godfather of Scottish gaming - DMA Design and Realtime Worlds founder Dave Jones; as well as Microsoft’s academic manager Andy Sithers.
Tickets and event programmes for NEoN ’09 are available via the official event website at http://www.northeastofnorth.com.