A Brief History of Hipgnosis
A Brief History of Hipgnosis
One of the added bonuses of buying a long-playing record in the mid 70s to early 80s occurred when you realised the sleeve artwork had been done by the design group Hipgnosis. You knew then you were in for a treat of quality, well crafted art that would complement the music and enhance your listening experience. You could sit with the sleeve in your lap while the record played and you could relate the images on the sleeve to the words and music you were hearing. I can't think of a better example of this than the artwork for the double album The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway by Genesis. The black and white photographic images used on the cover depict scenes from the tale told in the music and lyrics.
Hipgnosis were a London-based design group that were responsible for countless notable rock album sleeves. The group gained major prominence in 1973 when they designed the cover artwork for Pink Floyd's classic album The Dark Side of the Moon. The album became one of the biggest selling records of all time and the sleeve design became instantly recognisable. Hipgnosis went on to design covers for many major bands including Led Zeppelin, Genesis, Yes and Emerson, Lake and Palmer.
Origins
The group was formed by Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey Powell in 1967, when they were approached by Pink Floyd to produce the cover art for their second album A Saucerful of Secrets. At that time the band, who were friends of Thorgerson and Powell, were undergoing internal turmoil, as gifted but troubled lead singer Syd Barrett gave way to David Gilmour. The cover design was a success, though, as they were given further work by the band's agent. The group went on to design sleeves for Pink Floyd classics including Animals and Wish You Were Here. Hipgnosis were later joined by Peter Christopherson.
The Hipgnosis Style
The Hipgnosis style was mainly photographic, often involving staged surreal situations influenced by the album lyrics. Many pieces were photographed in black and white and hand coloured. It was not in their nature for Hipgnosis to just slap a picture of the band on the cover and call it a day! Photography was complemented by the graphic design work of freelancers including George Hardie and Colin Elgie, who often supplied stylised text.
The group made a point of listening to the music and reading the lyrics in order to come up with a relevant concept and to avoid merely creating pretty pictures. Images often featured clever puns based on the lyrics. Once an idea had been worked out, it was usually realised by a combination of the old-fashioned photo shoot, film montage techniques and airbrushing. Designs that today would probably be created by one graphic designer in a day in Photoshop often took three or four days on location with several technicians. For example, the cover concept inspired by the album Elegy by The Nice featured a long line of red globes stretching as far as the eye could see across a barren desert landscape. This entailed the team flying to Morocco with 60 red plastic footballs for a photo shoot in the Sahara!
Hipgnosis had an unconventional approach to charging fees for their work, too. Rather than quoting a specific price for a piece of work, they were inclined to ask the client to pay what they thought it was worth. Apparently this was a tactic that seldom backfired.
Pigs will fly over Battersea
Perhaps their best known work was done for Pink Floyd. Apart from the iconic Dark Side of the Moon, they will be fondly remembered for the burning man on the front of Wish You Were Here, which involved setting fire to a Hollywood stuntman, and the spectacular fiasco that was the photo shoot for Animals. The concept for Animals was a 40 feet long inflatable pink pig that was to be photographed flying high above Battersea power station in London. Despite Hipgnosis suggesting that the pig could be shot anywhere and 'stripped in' to the main image, the band insisted that it should be photographed in situ. The shoot lasted three days and involved 11 crew members and a helicopter. The first time the pig was flown it broke free of its moorings and floated away, later to come down on a farm in Kent. When it was recovered and eventually photographed on the third day, the clear blue sky backdrop was unacceptable to the band, who preferred the atmospheric sky of the first day. So it was decided that the pig would be 'stripped in' after all!
The early 80s saw a decline in the popularity of expensive, lavishly produced album covers. The Punk movement had changed the face of music forever, and the consumers of the New Wave of rock music demanded simpler, less arty packaging. Hipgnosis as a group disbanded in 1983, although founder member Storm Thorgerson continued to produce album covers until his death in 2013.
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