[citation needed] Igor Kordej started as a professional graphic designer when he was 18, and as a professional comic artist and illustrator when he was 19 years old, joining a very influential group of comic artists Novi kvadrat (New square) 1976–1979,[2] and publishing in all relevant Yugoslavian youth magazines of that era.

In 1979 Novi kvadrat won the prestigious national award 7 sekretara SKOJ-a, thus marking a break-up of the group.

[citation needed] In the early 1980s, Kordej teamed up with Mirko Ilić again in SLS studio (acronym for "Slow, Bad and Expensive"), and focuses on producing album covers and posters for Yugoslavian pop musicians and groups.

After the break-up with Ilić he continues with solo career, doing illustration for Yugoslavian mainstream magazines, film and theater posters,[3] logotypes and album covers.

[6] Kordej moved from Zagreb to a small Istrian village, Groznjan in 1988 where he leads, as an artist and supervisor, a group of over 20 artists and story writers (among others a young Darko Macan, Edvin Biuković and Goran Sudžuka), as well as veterans Radovan Devlić and Dragan Filipović Fipa,[7] producing comics and design for the German market.