From their 1986 debut single issued only in Iceland, The Sugarcubes became a cult success in the UK with their first single "Birthday", largely due to Bjork's astonishing vocal performance.
Signed by One Little Indian Records, the label commisioned some excellent designers, resulting in a strong visual look for the band's early sleeves. Some featured the work of designer Paul White who founded the Me Company in 1988 (they now do the remarkable computer artwork for all Bjork's solo work, a selection of which adorn the company's web site).
Yet these early 12 inch singles and the LP cover (the 10 and 7 inch releases, some of which carried different art, were equally good), which made extensive use of flourescent inks (which were becoming easier to specify), have a simple graphic integrity that remains powerful today.

Birthday
One Little Indian 12tp 7 : Oct 1987
designer : uncredited (Paul White/Me Company?)

The band's British debut, in day-glo orange and black on white. Great mix of san serif body text and the serif face of the band's name. Very simple but effective.

Cold Sweat
One Little Indian 12tp 9 : Jan 1988
designer : uncredited - Paul White/Me Company

Second single, another stunning track and artwork which echoes the typography of first sleeve, this time using day-glo yellow and black on white.

Cold Sweat remix ep
One Little Indian L12tp 9 : Feb? 1988
designer : Paul White/Me Company

A limited edition with alternate versions. The sleeve art reverses the colours of the regular release, again using day-glo yellow and black ink.

Deus
One Little Indian 12tp 10 : April 1988
designer : Paul White/Me Company

For the third12 inch (and another remarkable song), the budget ran to two flourescent inks, with playful hand-drawn sketches adding life to the design. The typefaces remain the same but the band's logo is squeezed up.

Deus
One Little Indian 10tp 10 : April? 1988
designer : Paul White/Me Company

Another limited edition, this time as a 10 inch single, using flourescent inks, and copying the regular release but with colour variations.

Birthday
One Little Indian 12tp 11 : Aug 1988
designer : Keli Kaldi

Birthday
One Little Indian 12tp 11L : Aug 1988
designer : Keli Kaldi

Having used up the best tracks, One Little Indian issued new versions and mixes of Birthday to promote the release of the album. These two 12 inch discs featured similar sleeves using coloured circles as a motif.

Life's Too Good
One Little Indian 12tp 10 : Aug 1988
designer : Paul White/Me Company

Finally the album, which took the squeezed logo from Deus, enlarged it, and overlaid genetalia obsessed sketches! This cover was available in five different day-glo colours in Britain (they'd look wonderful framed, but be warned that the inks fade if left in daylight). A change of style was adopted for the band's next sleeve and the move towards computer generated graphics took over. It was some time before this was wholly successful.

Click on the sleeves for a larger image.

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