Hasta La Ideas

Following news that British graphic designer Peter Saville has won this year’s London Design Medal and that he’s working on a visual identity for Kanye West, here are some of his most iconic designs from the 1970s to today.

Peter Saville‘s career kicked off after designing posters for The Haçienda nightclub in Manchester, run by the Factory Records label.

Saville went on to create the artwork for musicians represented by Factory Records, including rock bands Joy Division and Roxy Music.

His most iconic cover is widely regarded as Joy Division’s 1979 album Unknown Pleasures (main image), a diagram of pulses taken from an astrology encyclopedia. Disney added Mickey Mouse ears to the graphic for a T-shirt design last year.

Saville’s design for Joy Division’s second and final 1980 record Closer shows a photograph of a tomb, which proved controversial due to the suicide of the band’s singer Ian Curtis two months before the album’s release.

Saville continued to design covers for the band after they reformed as New Order, taking images from historical artwork out of context and adding modern typography with geometric graphics.

After designing for new wave group Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark since 1980, the band asked Saville to create imagery for its latest album Electric English released earlier this year. It references the stripy hazard signs of his original Factory Records posters.

Saville also designed covers for English bands Pulp and Suede. He set up fashion film website SHOWstudio with his friend Nick Knight in 2000 and was made creative director for the City of Manchester in 2004.

His other work includes the 2010 England football kit, which features small coloured crosses on the shoulder panels, and a showroom for fabric brand Kvadrat he designed with architect David Adjaye.

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