2. Storm Thorgerson
Storm Thorgerson (1944-2013) was a well known
and influential album designer. He is responsible for
many classic album covers from such as Pink Floyd,
Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin.
He also had a exhibition in the east-London Idea
Generation Gallery from 2nd April to 2nd May 2nd,
2010 which displaced much of his work.
He was also known his unique 6 stage design
method.
3. Creation process
The Brief. He starts off
by listening to the
music and reading
lyrics. This create a
‘brain soup’, from
which ideas can be
extracted to form the
brief.
Roughs. He then again
meets the band and talks
about what the big idea
or theme is for the
album. This leads to
scribblings and
wordplay . The best of
these are turned into the
‘roughs’.
Shoot. They will now
research and book a
location for the shoot.
The shoot may have to be
booked for a long time if
it is outdoors, in case of
weather problems. The
models are built and
positioned on the set.
They then take many
photos from different
angles and in different
light.
Editing. Here they
choose the best shot
for the album. This
may take a long time
depending on how
many shots there are.
Artwork. This is
the final stage
were they clean
up any last
minute things on
the shot, before
handing over the
final product.
Tests. After a rough is
chosen and the budget
has been agreed. They
create a prototype to
make sure the design
works. This can be made
from anything
depending on what the
design involves. If all
goes to plan a final
model will be made.
4. Examples of his work
Pink Floyd
“Dark Side of
the Moon”
(1973)
Black
Sabbath
“Never Say
Die” (1978)
Audioslave
“Audioslave”
(2002)
