Indelible Images by Design

Pink Floyd's "Animals" album cover portrays a pig soaring above London's Battersea Power Station in a collage format. Initially intended as a photograph, it proved challenging to control an inflatable pig at such heights (in fact, it unintentionally drifted towards the flight path of Heathrow Airport).

Equally difficult was capturing a motionless man after being set on fire, an image created for the band's previous album, "Wish You Were Here." Additionally, the task of arranging a restless sheep to recline on a psychiatrist's couch amidst the Hawaiian surf proved arduous. This photograph, albeit a small inset, became part of the original cover for 10cc's album "Look Hear?"

In the documentary "Squaring the Circle (The Story of Hipgnosis)" by Anton Corbijn ("Control"), various anecdotes are recounted about Hipgnosis, a British design studio renowned for their unconventional and groundbreaking album artwork spanning approximately 15 years from 1968. They crafted some of the most peculiar and inventive visual creations ever seen on record covers. The studio's name, a combination of "hip" and "gnostic" pronounced as "hypnosis," captures their distinctive essence.

[ Original New York Times Review ]