Stylorouge was born in a two desk office above Capitelli's restaurant in London's Edgware Road.

It was during his third year working in the art department at Polydor Records that Rob O'Connor went solo, adopting a French pseudonym en route, following a flurry of successes in the annual Music Week Awards. During that first long hot summer the workload was as heavy as the traffic pollution that poured through the only window. ATV had just dropped the Muppets, but Margaret Thatcher was still running the country, waging war with the miners and the trade unions. Smokey Robinson topped the UK Singles Chart. The Jam, The Specials and Shakin' Stevens weren't too far behind. Polydor's roster at the time included Siouxsie & The Banshees, Level 42 and Kirsty MacColl, all of whom were happy to move their sleeve design duties to Stylorouge. New kids in town, The Passions, signed to The Cure's label, Fiction, and had an unexpected hit with the quirky I'm In Love With A German Film Star. They too found Stylorouge's work to their liking - Their debut album Thirty Thousand Feet Over China was named literally after the photograph O'Connor had sourced as a possible sleeve.
Following the departure of frontman Jimmy Pursey, the remainder of Sham 69 found a new vocalist in the guise of the wiry American punk Stiv Bators who had become a favourite with late '70's British audiences touring his band, The Dead Boys, with the Damned among others. The new collaboration was called The Wanderers, fuelled with arcane anarchic polemic as Stiv's main songwriting interests favoured the area of political conspiracy theory. An unlikely move on for the affable Dave Parsons, whose previous lyric-writing collaborator's finest hour featured the refrain "we're going down the pub". Amalgamated Talent was a London-based Fashion Show that highlighted more than 20 young designers during London Fashion Week and in particular launched the career of Helen Storey. Stylorouge created the advertising campaign on a shoestring, with illustration by Rosemary Harrison and photography by Rick Mann. The New Romantic movement was still alive and mincing, although at this point not quite so new... Steve Strange's business partner, Rusty Egan commissioned a sleeve for the soundtrack oddity that was Lili Marleen and introduced Stylorouge to the beautifully French and impressively tall model-turned-singer, Ronny, and The Camden Palace appointed the company to create a new visual identity, as did regulars of Soho's Wag Club, Animal Nightlife, who had signed to the cocky up-and-coming pop label Innervisions, who also introduced Stylorouge to an teenage act known as Wham. (Stylorouge found a spare exclamation mark for them on a sheet of Letraset and the rest is history – !).

Thankfully Siouxsie and Budgie's side project The Creatures offered the company something fulfilling to redress the aesthetic balance. The Wild Things ep was something of an experiment. The cover was a shoot with the two protagonists sharing a shower in a Newcastle hotel suite. The Banshees had been playing an afternoon benefit gig for Mencap, Siouxsies's chosen charity, so this was to be a night off for the band. While bassist Steve Severin and guitarist John McGeoch nipped out to the local multiplex to watch Clash Of The Titans, the band's singer and drummer got wet for their art. Photographer Adrian Boot took the shots while Rob O'Connor perched precariously on the toilet seat with shower head in hand. Enough said.

 

 

 

 

 

Graphic Design archive news Story - 1981
Graphic Design archive news Story - 1982
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Graphic Design archive news Story - 1989
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Graphic Design archive news Story - 2005
Graphic Design archive news Story - Today

Stylorouge design -Our Philosophy
Look At Me- by Jim Davies
Stylorouge and Blur - by Andrew Collins
Trainspotting - by Claire Allfree
State of Flux - by Rob O'Connor
You Are Here - by Jim Davies
Come Together - by Rob O'Connor
Better by Design - Heat Magazine - Review on Delicious, by Sarah Cohen
Album - Nick DeVille - by Mitchell Beazley
G-spot - Blur by Stylorouge
Profile: Stylorouge - Computer Arts
Profile: Stylorouge - Computer Arts
S Book 2 - Edited by Nick Long - Art Books Int.
Mondo, Attitude, Newdesign, Esquire, Q
Influences - Excerpt featuring the influences of Rob O'Connor, Stylorouge.

Questions & Answers
Stylorouge Team
Daniele Massaiu - Web Developer
Fran Lima - Production Assistant
Jamie Gibson - Print and Multimedia Designer/Production
Mark Higenbottam - Senior Designer/Art Director
Michele Rossi - Interactive Media Designer
Mikkel Lundsager Hansen - Designer
Rob OConnor - Founder and Creative Director
Viv Dykes - Accounts Manager

Video Commercial - David Gilmour - On An Island TVC
Video Commercial - Enya - A Day Without Rain
Video Commercial - Joseph McManners
Video Commercial - Kula Shaker - K
Video Commercial - Madonna - American Life
Video Commercial - Platinum R B Collection
Video Commercial - The Corrs - Home
Video Commercial -Vangelis
Video Commercial - Wild Ocean
Video Commercial - Your Generation

Video Epk - Amy Kelly
Video Epk - Enya Life In Music
Video Epk - Lord of the rings
Video Epk - Feeder Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow
Video Epk -
Video Epk - Kevin Mark Trail
Video Epk - Kula Shaker Cowboys & Indians
Video Epk - Manic Street Preachers -Making of Everything Must Go
Video Epk -
Video Epk - Remasterpiece
Video Epk - Show Of Hands Stairway To Devon
Video Epk - The Corrs All The Way Home (Excerpt)
Video Epk - Toploader Mini Documentary
Video Epk - Undercut EPK
Video Epk - Xanda Howe

Video Live Chris Difford Live At The Albany
Video Live David Gilmour at the Royal Festival Hall
Video Live The Corrs Live in Geneva
Video Live Xanda Howe Live At Ronnie Scotts

video Promo - Amy Kelly Take Me With You
video Promo - Crowded House Everything Is Good For You
video Promo - Halo Never Ending
video Promo - Halo Still Here
video Promo - Kirsty MacColl Mambo Di La Luna
video Promo - Kula Shaker Sound Of Drums
video Promo - Melaton Falling Star
video Promo - Remasterpiece Maresias
video Promo -
video Promo - Summer Mal Di Luna
video Promo - Summer Nella Fantasie
video Promo - Tara Blaise Fool For Love
video Promo - Tara Blaise Paperback Clich
video Promo - Tara Blaise The Three Degrees
video Promo - The Corrs Angel
video Promo - The Corrs Long Night
video Promo - Undercut Soul Food Mother
video Promo - Vangelis 1492
video Promo - Wild Ocean Dancing In The Wind
video Promo - Wild Ocean Deo

Feeder Title Sequence
Muzik Awards Titles
NME Awards Titles
REM A Stirling Performance
Sanctuary DVD Title Sequence
Peter Wafa-Abela Title Sequence