#iconicalbumcovers

Whenever I think of iconic album covers, Pink Floyd’s ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ immediately springs to mind and its one of favourites.   The design was inspired by a photograph of a prism with a colour beam projected through it - so simple yet completely enticing, no wonder its been hailed as one of the greatest album covers of all time.

The Dark Side of the Moon design is a product of the visionary creative team of Aubrey Powell and Storm Thorgerson of Hipgnosis, who are responsible for creating some of rock’s most memorable album covers.

Hipgnosis – a term mixing “hip” with “gnosis” (meaning “mystic thought”) – was coined by Pink Floyd’s Syd Barrett for the design pairing when the band asked them to design the cover for their 1968 album, A Saucerful Of Secrets. In the following decade, the company became pre-eminent among the most forward-thinking album covers designers in the world.

Hipgnosis went on to produce nearly 200 covers, some of which were the most radical album sleeves in music history, including Black Sabbath’s escalator robots (for Technical Ecstasy) and Peter Gabriel’s melted grilled-cheese face (for his self-titled 1980 solo album) 

- Album art by Hipgnosis - 

References

Chilton, M. (2019). Up Their Sleeves: The 13 Most Iconic Album Cover Designers | uDiscover. [online] uDiscover Music. Available at: https://www.udiscovermusic.com/stories/iconic-album-cover-designers/.

‌Deal, D. (2017). “The Dark Side of the Moon”: How an Album Cover Became an Icon. [online] Medium. Available at: https://medium.com/@davidjdeal/pink-floyds-the-dark-side-of-the-moon-how-an-album-cover-became-an-icon-e95bae0bdc32.‌

The Chinese dragon head with a red head, in dark green and white style

Chinese dragon head in dark green and white