Anthony Burrill Prints and Books

Anthony Burrill in a red cap and glasses laying out colourful letterpress posters on a long table in his studio — Anthony Burrill in his studio, 2025. Photo: Davy Pittoors, © Davy Pittoors 2025, via It’s Nice That. Cropped and framed by CoolCuration.

Last updated: 26 October 2026

Anthony Burrill is the British graphic artist behind the Work Hard & Be Nice to People poster, known for bold, short phrases in letterpress and screen print. Here you will find our take on his work, where it has been shown, the signed prints and books you can buy, and the edition we feature.

Our take on Anthony Burrill

Burrill found his best-known phrase in a supermarket queue on Clapham High Street in 2002, when the woman in front of him said the secret to a happy life was to work hard and be nice to people. It became his first print with Adams of Rye, the letterpress printers he still works with. “I think it proves that by using less, you can say more,” he told It’s Nice That.

He loves the process as much as the slogans. “You start off with a blank piece of paper and it goes through the press, and then it means something. It’s transformative, and it’s magical,” he said of letterpress.

Anthony Burrill prints are some of the most affordable signed design prints around: most cost £80 from his own shop, and his A4 editions are £40.

Anthony Burrill: the essentials

Born in Littleborough, Lancashire, and lives in Rye, East Sussex, according to his own site.
Studied graphic design at Leeds Polytechnic and took an MA at the Royal College of Art, where he was taught by Alan Kitching and Margaret Calvert.
Works in letterpress, with Adams of Rye, and in screen print, making posters, murals and books.
Made You & Me & Me & You, a permanent public artwork on a canal-side building in Leeds.
His work is in the collections of the V&A and the Design Museum in London and the Cooper Hewitt in New York.
Published Work Hard & Be Nice to People as a book with Virgin Books in 2020.

Anthony Burrill exhibitions

Joy! Pure Joy!, Dorothy, 22 Jordan Street, Liverpool, 24 July to 28 August 2026.
Past, Present – Future, Perfect, a letterpress collaboration with the National Print Museum, Dublin, for Irish Design Week, 17 to 21 November 2025.
Archive and Rareties 2004 – 2019, 25 letterpress prints, They Made This, Coal Drops Yard, London, 1 to 24 May 2025.
No new show has been announced.

Where to buy Anthony Burrill prints

His own shop has the widest range, all signed:

You & Me (Blue), £70: a signed print, 40 x 50 cm (15.7 x 19.7 in), from the Design Museum shop. See our You & Me print page.
You&Me (Orange), £80, or the pair for £140: signed screen prints, 50 x 70 cm (19.7 x 27.6 in), from Anthony Burrill’s shop.
Work Hard & Be Nice To People, £80: the original phrase as a signed screen print, 50 x 70 cm, from his shop.
Joy! Pure Joy!, £80: signed and numbered screen prints in editions of 50, A2, from his shop.
Work Hard & Be Nice to People book, £9.99: the 2020 Virgin Books paperback, from Penguin and bookshops.

Anthony Burrill prints and editions on CoolCuration

Anthony Burrill You & Me print in blue, bold black typography screen-print made for the Design Museum.

Anthony Burrill Print: You & Me – from £70

Anthony Burrill FAQs

Where did Work Hard & Be Nice to People come from?

Burrill overheard the phrase in a supermarket queue on Clapham High Street in 2002 and turned it into his first print with Adams of Rye.

How much is an Anthony Burrill print?

Most signed screen prints cost £80 from his own shop. The Design Museum sells You & Me (Blue) for £70, and his A4 editions are £40.

Where can I see Anthony Burrill’s work in public?

His permanent artwork You & Me & Me & You is on a canal-side building in Leeds.

Does Anthony Burrill have a book?

Yes, Work Hard & Be Nice to People (Virgin Books, 2020), £9.99 in paperback.

Anthony Burrill