Storm Thorgerson was a renowned English graphic designer, born in 1944, who produced album artwork for iconic rock bands such as Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, and Black Sabbath. He began his career in 1968 and continued designing album covers until his death in 2013. An exhibition of his artwork in 2010 highlighted his creative process, which typically involved listening to music to inspire ideas, creating rough illustrations, testing prototypes, photographing final models on location, and editing the images to produce the final album cover design.

1. STORM THORGERSON By Chloe Phillips

2. Storm Thorgerson was an English graphic designer
and artist who produced album artwork for people
such as Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Muse
and Biffy Clyro. He was born in Middlesex in 1944 and
died in 2013. He began his career as a designer in
1968 and continued right up to his death.
Biffy Clyro- Only Revolutions
2009
Pink Floyd- Piper at the
Gates of Dawn 2007

3. Pink Floyd- The Dark Side of
the Moon 2003
Muse- Black Holes and
Revelations 2006
Muse- Absolution 2003

4. Biffy Clyro- Puzzle
2007
Pink Floyd- The
Division Bell 1994
Led Zeppelin- Houses of the Holy (Vinyl
Cover) 1973

5. An exhibition of his artwork opened in East London from 2nd April to
2nd May in 2010. Part of this exhibition highlighted his creative process
for a specific case study.
1. The Brief
The designer listens to the music (possibly only demos at this stage),
reads the lyrics, and talks to the band. These create a ‘brain soup’,
from which ideas can be extracted to form the brief.
2. Roughs
Over a number of meetings/days, the designer meets the band again
for discussions, in an attempt to pin-down a theme or big idea. This
stage is creative, with word-play, honest thoughts, and scribblings.
The best are converted to more complete illustrations (the ‘roughs’).

6. 3. Tests
Once a rough is accepted and a budget agreed, a prototype is often
created to ensure that the idea works. Depending on the idea, this
could involve the creation of scale models from clay or polystyrene. If
everything works, the final models are constructed.
4. Shoot
A location is researched and booked, possibly for a long-time if
outdoors and in uncertain weather. Models are erected and
positioned, with help from volunteers if the shoot is big and complex.
A wide range of photographs are then taken, under varying
light/weather conditions and filters.

7. 5. Editing
This could be called ‘selection’, where the best shot from the shoot is
chosen. This can take several days, if hundreds of similar shots need
to be compared.
6. Artwork
Finally, having chosen the perfect shot, any cleaning-up or final
computer editing is performed, before handing over the final product.