Hasta La Ideas

British graphic designer Peter Saville references stripy hazard signs in the artwork for the latest album by experimental pop group Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark.

Peter Saville, who made his name in the late 1970s designing album sleeves for bands including Joy Division and Roxy Music, worked with designer Tom Skipp on the cover of OMD’s English Electric (above), out on 9 April.

Above: Saville’s 1979 cover for Joy Division’s Unknown Pleasures

“English Electric is best described as brutally simple dynamic energy,” explains Saville. “Briefed by OMD to be as reductive as possible, the cover captures but barely contains the high tension of an industrial legend.”

Above: Saville’s 1981 cover for OMD’s Architecture and Morality

The artwork also appears to reference the yellow and black hazard signs that were the signature look of The Haçienda, the Manchester nightclub operated by Factory Records in the 1980s and 1990s.

Saville began his career at Factory Records creating now-iconic sleeves for post-punk band Joy Division before going on to design artwork for New Order, Ultravox, OMD, Roxy Music and other new wave bands.

Above: Saville’s 1983 cover for New Order’s Blue Monday

Last year Disney caused controversy by releasing a T-shirt that added Mickey Mouse ears to Saville’s cover art for Joy Division’s 1979 album Unknown Pleasures.

We previously featured Saville’s design for an England football kit and his collaboration with architect David Adjaye to create a showroom for fabric manufacturer Kvadrat.

Above: Saville’s 1981 cover for Ultravox’s Rage in Eden

We also recently reported on Jonathan Barnbrook’s artwork for the forthcoming David Bowie album, which coincides with an exhibition about the pop musician at the V&A museum this spring.

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by Peter Saville and Tom Skipp appeared first on Dezeen.