In 1968, Storm Thorgerson and Audrey Powell (Po) were approached by their friends in Pink Floyd to design the cover for the group’s second album, A Saucerful of Secrets. This led to additional work for EMI, including photos and album covers for The Pretty Things, Free, Toe Fat and The Gods. Being film and art school students, they were able to use the darkroom at the Royal College of Art, but when they completed school, they had to set up their own facilities. They built a small darkroom in Powell’s bathroom, but shortly thereafter, in early 1970, rented space and built a studio located at 6 Denmark Street When first starting out, Powell and Thorgerson adopted their name from graffiti they found on the door to their apartment, which they attributed later on to the hand of Syd Barrett, then of Pink Floyd. Thorgerson said they liked the word, not only for punning on “hypnosis,” but for possessing “a nice sense of contradiction, of an impossible co-existence, from Hip = new, cool, and groovy, and Gnostic, relating to ancient learning.”
Hipgnosis gained major international prominence in 1973 with their famed cover design for Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon. The final design was one of several versions prepared for the band to choose from, but according to drummer Nick Mason, the ‘prism/pyramid’ design was the immediate and unanimous choice. The record itself was wildly successful—it became one of the biggest-selling and longest-charting albums of all time, putting it in the hands of millions of fans, and it has since been hailed as one of the best album covers of all time (VH1 rated the cover as No. 4, in 2003). After that, the firm became in-demand, and did many covers for high-profile bands and artists such as Led Zeppelin, Genesis, UFO, Black Sabbath, Peter Gabriel, Wishbone Ash, The Alan Parsons Project, 10cc and Yes. They also designed the cover for the original vinyl and UK paperback edition of Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, as well as the original UK hardcover edition of Norman Spinrad’s Bug Jack Barron.
Peter Christopherson joined Hipgnosis as an assistant in 1974, and later became a full partner. The firm employed many assistants and other staff members over the years.
Hipgnosis Personnel:
Storm Thorgerson, co-founder.
Aubrey(Po) Powell, co-founder.
Peter Chrisopherson, joined in the mid 70’s and later a full partner. He went on to play in an avant garde group called Throbbing Gristle. According to Storm he became a big influence on improving the lighting for the images and consequently the quality of the image. He also took an active role in many of the designs, including Godely&Creme’s cover Freeze Frame, Wishbone Ash’s cover New England, Brand X’s cover Unorthodox Behaviour and Foreigner’s cover Silent Partners
Richard Evans, the apprentice designer.
Freelance Personnel:
Richard Manning
George Hardie
Humphrey Ocean
Howard Barthrop
Geoff Halpin
Colin Elgie
Rob Brimson
Jeff Cummins
Video:
Click on the link below to watch a interview with Storm Thorgerson discussing about many of his album cover designs. This video was filmed and editied by Rupert Truman. https://vimeo.com/36482080
Sources:
Books:
For The Love Of Vinyl. The Album Art Of Hipgnosis. Storm Thorgerson & Aubrey Powell
Vinyl. Album. Cover. Art, The Complete Hipgnosis Catalogue: Aubrey Powell
The Work of Hipgnosis ‘ Walk Away Rene’ Compiled by Hipgnosis and George Hardie.
Hipgnosis | Portraits – Aubrey Powell
Web
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hipgnosis
http://www.stormstudiosdesign.com/
http://www.aubreypowell.com/HIPGNOSIS.html
https://www.rdevans.com/wordpress/
http://www.richardmanning.co.uk
http://www.hipgnosiscovers.com/home.html
Copyright Disclaimer:“Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use”
