Biography
An inventive British graphic design collective originated in 1968 when Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey Powell established it. Their earliest credited visual accompanied Pink Floyd’s third album, More. Ties to that band yielded further projects such as Ummagumma and Atom Heart Mother, although the pair created graphics for countless additional releases. A strikingly surreal desert image of scarlet toy spheres appeared on Elegy by the Nice, while an inventive negative reversal marked Doctor Dunbar’s Prescription by the Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation. Additional prominent sleeves encompass Technical Ecstasy by Black Sabbath, Jump On It from Montrose, On The Shore by Trees, House On the Hill for Audience, How Dare You credited to 10cc, and The Madcap Laughs associated with Syd Barrett.
Hipgnosis concentrated on visual puns, illustrated by their Quatermass design that layered airborne pterodactyls over a skyscraper. Designs were occasionally prepared without any particular act in view, yet Thorgerson and Powell skillfully adapted imagery to suit specific needs. One instance was the ‘teddy boy’ sleeve produced for To Mum From Aynsley And The Boys, a tongue-in-cheek album again issued by the Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation.
Peter Christopherson entered the team in 1974, though Hipgnosis had already lost much of its original spark. Its imaginative sleeves aligned perfectly with the expansive progressive era, yet pertinence declined once the genre receded. Still, the memorable photographic images endure in countless rock listeners’ recollections, among them the celebrated cows on Pink Floyd’s Atom Heart Mother and the group’s most iconic creation, Pink Floyd’s multi-million selling Dark Side Of The Moon.
Hipgnosis concentrated on visual puns, illustrated by their Quatermass design that layered airborne pterodactyls over a skyscraper. Designs were occasionally prepared without any particular act in view, yet Thorgerson and Powell skillfully adapted imagery to suit specific needs. One instance was the ‘teddy boy’ sleeve produced for To Mum From Aynsley And The Boys, a tongue-in-cheek album again issued by the Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation.
Peter Christopherson entered the team in 1974, though Hipgnosis had already lost much of its original spark. Its imaginative sleeves aligned perfectly with the expansive progressive era, yet pertinence declined once the genre receded. Still, the memorable photographic images endure in countless rock listeners’ recollections, among them the celebrated cows on Pink Floyd’s Atom Heart Mother and the group’s most iconic creation, Pink Floyd’s multi-million selling Dark Side Of The Moon.