The Designers Republic

‘Work Buy Consume Die’ is the slogan of the imaginary Pho Ku Corporation invented by The Designers Republic, a Sheffield based graphic design agency. Disenchanted with corporate driven consumerism in the 1990s, but acknowledging their role as a brand agency in the process, The Designers Republic devised an anti-corporate identity to counter the forces of global branding. The design is inspired by Japanese graphic design and also subverts the Pepsi Cola logo as a comment on the force of global branding.¹

The second PWEI release on Infectious, featuring a collaboration with Fun-Da-Mental and released on a limited edition gatefold 7″, a limited edition 7″ picture disc, 12″ and CD.²

“When we eventually presented the final packaging designs, the slightly disappointed reaction (from the top) was that there wasn’t any of the Japanese influence they’d seen in other TDR™ designs on their cover.

Pre email, and up against deadline, adrift from our Sheffield studio, all we had to hand on a zip was ‘The Designers Republic’ in Japanese. ‘Use that,’ they said. ‘No-one who can read it will know…’ Except in Japan… Wipeout… The Designers Republic.

For the last five years of the 20th-century we worked on defining the 21st with Wipeout, Wipeout 2097 and Wip3out. Each building on the previous game, each boldly going into a further out-of-reach future where no game had gone before.

For most of us who were creatively involved it increasingly felt, edition after edition, like the future was becoming a franchise. What seemed futuristic pitched 100 years ahead to, say 2097 (back in 1996), started to feel potentially antique the further into the future we travelled. In terms of gameplay and cultural impact, it felt more like TV re-runs than Blade Runner.”³

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