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Two wooden profile cut-outs of heads face each other against a black background. The head on the left has colourful sticks scattered randomly across the brain area, while the head on the right has sticks arranged in neat, vertical rows.

Fun record sleeve design and illustration from Hamburg's Human Empire

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Date
21 March 2013

Bee-autiful work here from Germany’s finest illustration and design studio and shop – Human Empire. Regular contributors to the weekly Die Zeit, these guys are illustrating round the clock leading to a fun-filled portfolio containing a lot of things with smiley faces on. There was a time when a lot of design studios had a shop full of artsy goodies to go with them, but it seems to occur less and less now, so thank goodness Human Empire are still flying the flag for super sweet and cute merch. Check out all the record sleeves they’ve done too, what a talented bunch.

A typographic poster for the “City Poster Contest 2013” featuring a collage of overlapping, colourful geometric house shapes. The main heading is followed by German text inviting people to design a poster of their favourite city to win prizes.
Above

Human Empire: City Poster Contest

An illustration of various books and a computer monitor personified with thin legs and arms. The books feature German titles including “Mein Leben”, “Wissen ist Macht” and “Roman”.
Above

Human Empire: Books for Die Zeit

A magazine cover on a black background featuring a graphic composed of blue, yellow and red scribbled lines. The lines form a blue triangle, a yellow arch and a red angular shape. Text in the top left reads “Human Empire” and “a magazin about nice things like”.
Above

Human Empire: A Magazine Cover for a future publication
of Human Empire Studio & Human Empire Shop.

A collage for a record cover featuring a tiger and a cat against a cream background. A stylized green tree with a face on its pink trunk frames the animals, while text reads “Faust” and “C’est com... com... compliqué”. To the right, a black vinyl record shows a matching illustration on its centre label.
Above

Human Empire: Faust LP

An illustration of a smiling globe wearing a black graduation cap. The globe holds the US and Chinese flags, with several other national flags scattered around its feet.
Above

Human Empire: Academic Studies

An illustration of a large, red brick letter “A” under construction against a grid background. Two eyes peer out from the brickwork, and wooden ladders lean against the structure. Text at the bottom reads “Building of a grotesque A. England, 1834”.
Above

Human Empire: Making an A

An album cover with a white background features the handwritten title “A NUMBER OF SMALL THINGS”. A white 3D cube is tilted in the centre, displaying the “Morr Music” logo in bold, colourful geometric letters. A small white circle reads “A collection of morr music singles from 2001–2007”.
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Human Empire: Morr Music

An illustration of a surreal city in purple, teal and black. Stylised figures and smiling shapes are scattered across a landscape of geometric buildings and curving paths.
Above

Human Empire: Dreams Screenprint

An illustration for the “Süddeutsche Zeitung Magazin” featuring a crowd of Angry Birds characters. A large red bird stands centrally over a gold dollar sign, surrounded by other birds, stacks of cash and a red sports car. The headline reads “Bei uns piept’s wohl”, with subtext discussing the success of the game.
Above

Human Empire:

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About the Author

Liv Siddall

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Liv joined It’s Nice That as an intern in 2011 and worked across online, print and events, and was latterly Features Editor before leaving in May 2015.

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