Storm Thorgerson was a British graphic designer and music video director best known for his album cover designs. Some of the famous artists he designed album covers for include Pink Floyd, Muse, The Cranberries, and Audioslave. Over his 40 year career, he designed over 250 album covers. His process involved listening to the music, discussing concepts with the band, developing rough designs, testing prototypes, photographing final designs on location, and editing the images for the final cover. He passed away in 2013 at the age of 69 after a successful career spanning over four decades in the music industry.

2. Born 28th February 1944 in Middlesex
Died 18th April 2013
He was a British designer and artist as well a music video
director
He designed album covers for Pink Floyd, Audioslave, The
Cranberries and Muse
He had been producing album artwork for 40 years
Designed over 250 album covers
An exhibition of his work ran in the east-London Idea
Generation Gallery in 2010

3. 10cc:
Greatest Hits 1972-1978 (1979)
Mirror Mirror (1994)
The Answer:
New Horizon (2013)
Audioslave:
Audioslave (2008)
Biffy Clyro:
Puzzles (2007)
Only Revolution (2009)
Opposites (2013)
The Cranberries:
Bury the Hatchet (1999)
Wake Up and Smell the Coffee (2001)
Muse:
Absolution (2003)
Black Holes and Revelations (2006)
Splinter (2003)

4. Paul Young – "Wherever I Lay My Hat (That's My Home)" (1983)
Rainbow – "Street of Dreams" (1983)
Robert Plant - "Big Log" (1983)
Yes – "Owner of a Lonely Heart" (1983)
Kevin Kitchen - "Tight Spot" (1984)
Nik Kershaw - "Wouldn't It Be Good" (1984)
David Gilmour – "Blue Light" (1984)
David Gilmour – "All Lovers Are Deranged" (1984)
Nik Kershaw - "The Riddle" (1984)
Nik Kershaw - "Wide Boy (1984)
Nik Kershaw - "Don Quixote" (1985)
Belouis Some – "Some People" (1985)
Glass Tiger – "Thin Red Line" (1985)
Glass Tiger – "Someday" (1985)
The Cult – "Love Removal Machine" (1987)
Pink Floyd – "Learning to Fly" (1987)
Pink Floyd – "The Dogs of War" (1987)
Anderson Bruford Wakeman and Howe – "Brother of Mine" (1989)
Helloween – "Kids of the Century" (1991)
Pink Floyd – "High Hopes" (1994)

5. The Brief
Roughs
Tests
Shoot
Editing
Artwork

6. 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.

7. 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’).

8. 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.

9. 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.

10. 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.

11. Finally, having chosen the perfect shot, any
cleaning-up or final computer editing is
performed, before handing over the final
product.