As design creators and friends, Len Deighton and Ray Hawkey clearly had a strong artistic connection and their collaborations over many years brought out the strengths in each other's work. Their styles were different - Hawkey, who became a design editor in newspapers, worked more with photography and pure design rather than illustration - but both equally as recognisable.

Hawkey gained subsequent recognition for his contribution to another spy thriller series - the James Bond novels. This article by Deighton biographer Edward Milward-Oliver, originally published in 007 magazine, tells the story of how Hawkey changed Bond forever.

Rip-off, or homage?

Hawkey's design for The Ipcress File cover is much admired ... and sometimes copied. Check out this blog post to read about how Berlinn publishers took a little too much artistic licence when drawing inspiration from that cover.