Key Personnel:

Martin Gore — Guitar/Synth/Vocals/Songwriter
Dave Gahan — Vocalist
Andrew Fletcher — Keyboards
Alan Wilder — Keyboards (1981-1995)

Flood — Producer (1990 – 1993)
Tim Simenon — Producer (1997)
Mark Bell — Producer (2001)
Ben Hillier — Producer (2005 – 2010)

Anton Corbijn — Photographer/Art Director/Designer (1990-2010)
Richard Smith (Area) — Designer (1990-2000)
Mat Cook (Intro) — Designer (1998 & 2004)
Form — Design (2004-2006)
Four5One — Design (2006-2008)

Anton Corbijn’s relationship with DM began in 1986, when he directed the clip for A Question of Time, from Music For The Masses. The collaboration was such a success, that the band asked him back to direct the video for a single that would become a monumental hit, Enjoy The Silence. The clip, based on themes and imagery from The Little Prince went on to become a landmark piece of work itself, and has influenced numerous other videos, most notably Coldplay’s Violet Hill and the Corbijn directed Viva La Vida.

The creative union between Corbijn and DM continues to the present day, some 20 years on, and has spanned album and single art, promotional photography, more music videos, documentaries and concert imagery.

Corbijn, a Dutch photographer, artist, designer and now filmmaker had become well known for his black and white, grainy, high contrast photos of musicians and celebrities. With subjects that have ranged from Miles Davis to Robert DeNiro, Corbijn’s photography is often highly emotional, capturing his subjects in various expressive states. His photos are also highly graphical, frequently using architectural backdrops and plants in the compositions, as well as symbolism and iconography throughout. His textured, stark, and organic photographic aesthetic translates beautifully into his art and design work, and has become a defining element in his work for DM.

After establishing a creative partnership with DM, Corbijn enlisted designer Richard Smith and his studio Area to help design the artwork for what would be their seventh album, Violator. Smith had met Corbijn while working on Corbijn’s book Famousz at Peter Saville Associates. Smith possesses a great love for the art of sleeve design, evidenced in his strong, thoughtful and distinctive work. I was fortunate enough to speak with Smith recently to get his insights into the process of creating an entirely new visual image for DM – one that would come to help define them as a band.

Violator (1990)

Following the release of Music For The Masses Depeche Mode sought to “reposition their brand personality”, something they did in spectacular fashion with Violator, a remarkable about-face for the band visually and landmark release musically. The dark romanticism that had become the signature style of Depeche Mode’s sound is beautifully reflected in the artwork, and the hand-made aesthetic would come to define them visually during the 90′s and beyond.

On Violator, Corbijn’s entire design centres around the image of a red rose on a black background. It’s an image that has become an iconic symbol in music history and deeply beloved by fans, to the extent that many have been inspired to get it tattooed. The stem of the rose is broken in two, separated by a handwritten album title. Corbijn’s bespoke, often handwritten typography would become a reccuring and important part of the DM visual language. The rose was hand painted and photographed, with layout completed on a Mac with one of the first versions of QuarkXPress.

According to Smith— “The album title has sexual violence overtones, Martin’s lyrics often reference a kind of sweet tortured love affair with someone or something. The cut rose was Anton’s idea and is a subtle reference to these ideas of violation, love, etc – it’s quite simple really. There were no other ideas presented.”

It’s a powerful and unforgettable graphic symbol, and the kind of iconic sleeve design that only appears every few years. Smith suggests that the iconic nature of the sleeve is tied up in the commercial and critical success of the album, and while I’d have to agree with that, there is much to be said about the stiking simplicity and power of the image also contributing to that success.

“DM were very hands off. Anton was the driving force in terms of art direction, that was the relationship he had with them … The ideas usually came about through a discussion with the band, record label and mostly what was in Anton’s head. It’s a record cover not a brand ID, you shoot from the hip intuitively, but often without any brief or rationale from the band or label.”

Without a strong guiding hand from the band, and few restrictions from the label (Mute had few concerns beyond cost), Corbijn and Area were able to expand the vision across the sleeve, singles and tour merchandise. Violator went on to become both an artistic breakthrough and commercial smash hit for the band, and it’s widely regarded as the album that truly turned them into international superstars.

Songs Of Faith And Devotion (1993)

It had been over ten years since DM formed, and the world and the music scene had become radically different from when they started. New new musical movements like grunge were emerging, and their synth-pop roots were falling further into musical history. DM were in a unique position to capitalize on what was their most successful album to date, but in this ever-changing musical climate, what direction would they take?

Songs of Faith & Devotion is a fascinating album. It remains true to the spirit of the band but it also embraces the new ideas and sounds. It’s dirty and industrial, and it expands their synth driven sound with distorted guitars. It’s also arguably their most diverse record, taking inspiration from the blues, gospel and rock music.

The cover stands out in the discography as the only studio album to feature photos of the band.

Smith explains— “From what I recall the band had been very successful with Violator and I believe everyone hoped to follow that success with SOFAD. At that point the band also was going through major personal struggles, so my impression is that everyone wanted to be represented. Anton had an idea to make a cover like With The Beatles, I think to represent the individuality within the band.”

After shooting each member, Corbijn and team placed the faces around a hand painted album title, and then layered misshaped, semi-transparent purple objects over all their faces. According to Smith each object represents the members in some way, most notably Martin Gore with his wild, spiky hair.

Corbijn ended up painting extensively for the artwork, including a complete alphabet, which Smith and co were able to use for the tracklisting. We also see here the first use of what would become an ongoing stylistic trend for Corbijn— to create repeating motifs in letterforms. On this cover, he has painted the D & M in a darker purple and larger size to the rest.

The cover has an incredibly raw and hand-crafted feel to it. There’s a warmth to it. It’s messy and painterly, which contrasts beautifully with the band’s mostly electronic sound. Of course it’s the music that has earned them so many fans around the world, but I believe Corbijn’s organic and intimate design plays a big part of what inspires people connect with them.

While all the single artwork from Violator onwards are visually linked to the album artwork, those from this period arguably make the most complete “family” – featuring the same colour palate to the repeated use of Corbijn’s lettering and illustrated motifs.

Ultra (1997)

As the decade progressed, the band developed divisive internal struggles – largely driven by Gahan’s drug problems and his creative conflicts with Gore. As this occurred their music and design became progressively more dark and introspective. While DM had never been a particularly sunny band, Ultra is probably their most bleak album, and at the time it appeared that it could be their last.

Over the course of recording, Gahan nearly died from a speedball overdose, founding member Alan Wilder left the band, and all members generally became disillusioned and pessimistic about their future. Despite all this, Ultra became a fan favorite, and one of their best records. Rich and atmospheric, Ultra was produced by the Bomb The Bass’ Tim Simenon, who was able to truly coalesce the guitar and synth sounds explored on the previous record.

The cover art is suitably dark and industrial, and prominently features more of Corbijn’s typographic work, which was all created photographically. Smith tells me that Corbijn made slides of embossed type which were then printed. The printed letters were finally processed and composed on the Quantel Paintbox, a graphic workstation most commonly used for broadcast television graphics.

“Anton and I worked very well together, I believe we had a mutual respect for each other’s strength’s. Often we were his hands helping him bring ideas to life. It was an honor to work with him and DM. There were no differences, I might have done things differently if I were in control, but design is subjective and I believe Anton’s personal approach is unique, primarily though his lack of training, but you don’t have to know how to design to create a great cover”

Ultra would be the final DM sleeve that Smith would work on with Corbijn, but he managed to really put his personal stamp on the artwork for this period, particularly in the singles. The Barrel of a Gun arwork features Smith’s own handwriting and lettering, the result of Corbijn passing on much more creative control to Area, who would then go on to design sleeves for bands such as Orchestral Manouvres In The Dark and ABC.

Also joining the illustrious ranks of Depeche Mode designers and illustrators is Corbijn’s then 8 year old niece, who painted the cover art for the Home single.

Smith gave me some personal reflections on his experiences from this period, and on designing for music—

“Record cover design is an art in itself. And I wish people appreciated it’s importance more than they do and also more fully recognize its relevance in the evolution of design in general especially the work from the mid 70s. However, most people look to other factors for that. It would also be easy to say I wish all clients allowed such freedom, but really musicians and record labels are harder clients than banks and corporations. However, the abstract thinking that goes into a record cover I think I use on daily basis in all my work, but some people get it and some don’t, it’s obvious in some instances and not so obvious in others. At the end of the day you pick and choose your battles in terms of what’s important for you and your client. Regardless of the work I did for me in general record cover design reinvented design, period, in my humble opinion, but no one will ever admit that.”

I couldn’t agree with those sentiments more. I imagine there are very few designers out there who haven’t been motivated or inspired by sleeve art, and the influence of great covers extends beyond the world of art and design, and into areas of culture and history.

Make sure you check out Richards latest work at Think Create Believe, as well as his fabulous Dollar ReDe$ign project.

Exciter (2001)

Exciter was quite a surprising entry in the DM discography, not only for it’s mere existence after such a tumultuous few years for the band, but for the fact that it featured a significantly more upbeat, club-oriented sound than fans were used to.

The cover too was uncharacteristically bright and colourful, featuring a photo of an agave plant, taken by Corbijn. The agave is known as the “century plant”, blooming only once in it’s life after growing for 20-50 years. The plant was harvested by Native Americans and baked in a stone lined pit for 2-3 days. Following this the baked plant could be used for a multitude of purposes, including clothing, tools and food.

The typography almost feels like a throwback to Violator featuring a similar, almost naively caligraphic style. Corbijn plays with the lettering again, finding new forms by joining the c & h to make it look like the d. Aside from the ascenders on the d and the h, and the descender on the p, all the letters are capitalized, and uniform in size.

While Corbijn handled the photography and typography, the layout and design is by the excellent UK studio Form – who did a fantastic job with the singles too, capturing the freshness and positivity in the music. Form also produced some really stunning tour programs and specialty packaging, with their own unique take on Corbijn’s original art.

Interestingly enough, Form was established by designer Paul West, who also worked with Richard Smith at Peter Saville Associates. West had previously worked with the band on the layout and design for the Depeche Mode live album and film 101, which is shown at the top of this article.

Playing The Angel (2005)

Referred to by the band as the “Gothic Teletubby” and by fans as “Mr Feathers”, the little creature designed by Corbin is made up of black feathers, and is placed on a collage of torn coloured paper and cardboard. Corbijn’s intention was to interpret the ‘angel’ of the title as a dark angel, and to play on the notion of light and dark.

The figure is also said to be a tip-of-the-hat to Robert Smith of The Cure, and the cover of Boys Don’t Cry.

It’s almost the most hand-made feeling in a series of hand-made covers – particularly with the raw, grungy typography. The recurring typographic motif in this case is the repeating E’s in the band title, which are rendered slightly smaller than the other letters, and without the stem.

Design duties for Playing The Angel were handled by the team at Four5One in Dublin, who are perhaps most famous for their extensive work with U2 (also one of Corbijn’s long term music clients). Four5One make generous use of Corbijn’s photography throughout the booklet, showcasing some of the most interesting and abstract shots he has taken of the band.

It would be four years till the next DM record, and the next Corbijn design, however there was another designer who took over duties during this period for some of the non-studio releases. Mat Cook of Intro in London would take the band in a different visual direction, starting in 1998 between the release of Ultra and Exciter. The results of this new collaboration are quite incredible, and after speaking with Cook recently, I discovered that the journey the creative team went through to get the images was quite an odyssey in itself.

Having produced artwork for other Mute records artists like Can and Luke Slater, Cook and his studio were chosen to produce the artwork for the band’s singles collections as well as an accompanying music video collection. Like the band, Cook was born in Essex, and grew up with a strong love of analogue synthesizers and electronic music – so the band, label and designer all mixed together well.

His work for the 81>85 and 86>98 singles collections are completely unlike what Corbijn was doing, however the results are stunning, and fit into the DM design canon beautifully.

According to Cook, the brief was completely open, and he aimed to provide a distinctive and unique look, that also paid tribute to some of the band’s memorable imagery from over the years.

“We followed a slightly fucked up trip along highway 101 in California, we had a bunch of relevent props and shot at locations reminiscent of some of the previous artwork, but shot in a moodier, more malevolent manner. For me the LED was at once historic and technological which fitted. It’s also a very flexible device to use over a campaign.”

The LED screens featured in the artwork were shot in different locations (and weather conditions) around the USA. It’s brilliantly big concept while still having quite an analogue, lo-fi quality. The project resulted in something of a design odyssey for Cook and his team, encountering just about every possible weather disaster and production obstacle.

“We had to replicate the spacing of the digits on each shot, yet lens and locations varied. Making the images optically correct (and therefore a set) took hours, by the end of the shoot we had a system but it was certainly painful to say the least. On uneven ground getting the digits on a true horizontal was a nightmare, also the kit & generator was bulky and heavy. Carting the stuff in 43 degrees in the desert was special, and there are lots of nasty bitey things out there. We also had a sand storm that wrote off half a day, but the self same storm created one of the most beautiful sunsets ive ever seen, and I got it on film, so you won and lost. We got arrested on the last day and gave the guy the unshot film with slight of hand, that was very touch and go”

The variety of locations photographed were chosen both for their relevance to the band’s visual history, and for their natural beauty and cinematic qualities.

“I never specifically shot for singles or albums, we just shot for impact and edited down later. The band were huge in the states, the areas shot were a vague homage to the film 101, also the epic nature of the Yosemite landscape suited the music, as did the desolation of some the urban settings

Typography plays a huge role in the design, with the LED effectively playing a typographic role, denoting the years that bookend each singles period. There’s some beautiful symmetry that occurs on the 86>98 singles cover, where the digits mirror each-other. Cook suggests that the LED numbers give of a feeling of both modern technology and retro synths, which compliments the band’s music perfectly.

All other typography, including the band name and album title, is set in FF Dot Matrix.

Intro were commissioned again in 2004 to design artwork and packaging for DM’s remix and video remix collections. It’s another brilliant set, rendered in a distinctive visual style that Cook refers to as “soft digital”

“Soft digital, that was the idea, basically I liked the idea of making something hard become soft, a bit like some of the music. All the textures are created by shooting a Mac CRT monitor”

Despite being so structurally geometric, and despite the fact the textures actually come from computer screens, there is definitely a softness to the work, and quite a hand-made collage feel to it. The typography looks almost like it’s in motion, hanging in digital space momentarily before it shifts and changes.

I love this set not only for the simple fact that it looks great, but because to me it feels like a visual remix – a graphic deconstruction to compliment the musical re-workings within.

Make sure you visit Mat Cook’s extraordinary studio Intro, and pick up one of the amazing, limited edition screen prints from his latest collections.

I’d like to extend an extra special thank you to both Richard Smith and Mat Cook for being so generous with their time and thoughts.

As always, a big thanks to you for reading. If you enjoyed the article, please tell your friends, and share it on your networks using the social icons below!

To Be Concluded.

Depeche Mode Home
Depeche Mode Wiki

*(sorry trees)
Vince Frost

A chronicle of Frost’s journey from London to Sydney, and from Pentagram associate to international design icon. This is a fantastic book with the right balance of eye-candy and information, exploring case studies spanning from the mid 90′s to the present day. Simply one of the best and most inspiring designers working today.

Not sure what stock used was, but it feels incredible and is unlike any other book I’ve held. I can’t recall any other book typeset in Franklin Gothic Bold either, but it works.

Love the black on fluoro-orange cover too.

Cover Art By: New Music Graphics
Adrian Shaughnessy

One of my favourite books. Cover Art By is an indispensable guide to some of the best in contemporary music design, and features the likes of Julian House, Kim Hiorthoy, Rune Mortensen, Steve Byram, Jeff Jank and Grandpeople.

It’s great to just flick through and enjoy the hundred of images, but there’s actually some quite in-depth interviews with the artists and designers profiled, as well as detailed information on all the images.

Typeset in Lineto’s Simple— which is a personal favourite.

Made You Look / Things I Have Learned In My Life So Far
Stefan Sagmeister

If you don’t own both of these books, stop reading and purchase them immediately.

Sagmeister’s two books compliment each other nicely, and not just because they are identical in size. Made You Look doccuments Sagmeister’s life (literally from day one) and professional development, and provides one of the most honest & candid accounts of the design business you’ll ever read. Things I Have Learned… is more of a design exercise than an autobiography, but it still essentially picks up where Made You Look left off, and examines where Sagmeister’s journey has taken him and where it might go next. Very inspiring.

Both books are also incredibly rich in content and detail too, with visual gags and little anecdotes hidden throughout.

Vaughan Oliver: Visceral Pleasures
Rick Poynor

The amazing, inimitable Vaughan Oliver. Poynor’s book chronicles almost all of Oliver’s career, and provides plenty of images and insight into his work with 4AD. This is one of my most read and beloved design books.

display copy only, a book of intro work
Intro

This is extremely hard to get hold of, but it’s well worth hunting down, particularly if you’re as huge a fan of Julian House & Mat Cook as I am.

There’s a great forward by Intro founder Adrian Shaughnessy, followed by another great forward by John O’Reilly, but beyond that there are very few words. This is no bad thing when you’re treated to the beyond-brilliant work the studio has done for Stereolab, Broadcast, Primal Scream, and Depeche Mode to name just a few.

Plastered. The Poster Art of Australian Popular Music
Murray Walding / Nick Vukovic

Like Symbols of Australia this book is the result of a labour of love, and it too is a must have for any lovers of Australian design. It features an abundance of music related poster art collected from the 1950′s to the present day, and is an absolute feast for the eyes.

There’s plenty of information about each period, interviews with selected designers and artists, and almost all the posters are annotated.

Perfection.

Perverse Optimist
Tibor Kalman / Peter Hall

This book will make you a better designer and a better human being.

Mmm Skyscraper I Love You
John Warwicker & Karl Hyde

A non-musical collaboration between one of my favourite studios Tomato and one of my favourite bands Underworld. This book is essentially a typographic map of New York, taking in the architecture, culture and movement of the city and translating it into designs built from abstract illustrations and fonts.

It’s part concrete poetry and part experimental sketchbook. A dark, dense and hugely compelling exploration of the city that never sleeps.

I haven’t been able to get my hands on a copy yet, by John Warwicker’s new book The Floating World looks incredible too.

Non Format Love Song
Non Format

Who doesn’t love Non Format? Their work is big, bold and incredibly sexy. It’s what the future should look like. The sheer volume of incredible images makes you forget that it’s pretty light on written content. It contains quite a few images that are only available in this book too, including a selection of fantastic typographic experiments.

Pure, unadulterated, and delicious eye candy.

The End Of Print
David Carson / Lewis Blackwell

Carson is probably the most contested and debated designer of all time. Few designers inspire such extreme positions of love and hate within the industry. Whichever side of the fence you sit on, there’s no denying his influence, particularly during the 90′s where his gritty, digital, rule-breaking designs changed everything.

There are a number of books by and about Carson, but this is my favourite. It contains mini essays on Carson by luminaries such as Tibor Kalman and Douglas Coupland, and covers some of his best work, including the groundbreaking designs for Ray Gun Magazine

Town Of Mirrors
Robert Pollard

While I don’t listen to Guided By Voices much these days, they provided much of the soundtrack to my high school years. Singer Robert Pollard composed not only most of the band’s music, but also the artwork for their album covers.

Pollard’s collage art is sublime, quite surreal and mostly quite minimalist. There’s a great deal of humour and fun (as well as some darker material) in there, and you can see Pollard’s love for vintage film and animation in almost every image.

As well as all the artwork for Guided By Voices, there’s a huge amount of content from Pollard’s personal sketchbooks and collections, some of which is published for the first time in this book. Great stuff.

Jazz Covers
Joaquim Paulo / Julius Widemann

Of all my many Taschen books, this is my most prized – a bumper collection of Jazz record covers, from the iconic cool of the 50′sBlue Note era to the explosion of colour and psychedelia inspired by the jazz-fusion records of the 70′s. The book also contains interviews with design giants like Rudy Van Gelder.

I bought this one while in New York last year, and I pick it up and flick through at least once a week. Superb.

I’d love to know some of your favourite art and design books, particularly some of the more obscure and vintage in your collection. Feel free to leave a note below.