Despite Oliver’s infamy, when I took the project on the full breadth of the group’s output was still largely unknown, and had never been archived. To begin the book I first had to work with Anonymous to create an archival system. Once in place, the approach to the book was rooted in making a generous gesture to their fans, without compromising the illusiveness the brand is known for. In essence the assignment was to be laid bare, without giving it all away.

The design looks more like a CIA case file than a coffee table book, avoiding self-agrandizing signifiers like bespoke typography, hardcover binding and endless streams of full-bleed imagery. In place of commissioned writing, there is only the DACS standard—an ‘output neutral’ set of rules used by archivists to describe the contents of an archive. Layouts use the proportions of plastic archival sleeves, all images are watermarked, and the pages are bound with metal document binders, leaving the spine exposed and blank.