Graphic Art & Design 1979-1994

The first major publication on the work of the Rotterdam and Los Angeles–based experimental design group Hard Werken. Hard Werken formed in the late 1970s with an underground magazine of the same name (soon to be a collector’s item), and attracted fame in the 1980s as the riotous vanguard of Dutch design. Hard Werken finally folded in 1994 after a shotgun wedding to a Dutch packaging company.

Hard Werken’s anarchic aesthetic, which disregarded typographic conventions, characterized the group as a brash, elusive and distinctly Rotterdam phenomenon. This chunky book investigates Hard Werken’s legacy in Holland, LA and the UK, and addresses their contemporary significance, from the innovative ways that the group combined graphic and fine-art languages to their navigation of newly emerging cultural and commercial spheres.

Edited, and with text by, Ian Horton and Bettina Furnée. Includes texts by Russ Bestley, Max Bruinsma, Tony Credland, Frits Gierstberg, and Noor Mertens.

Designed by 75B

Published by Valiz, 2018

Flexi binding, 480 pages, 1300 color and 100 b&w images, 6.75 × 9.5 inches

ISBN: 978-94-92095-17-6