Storm Thorgerson
The Hipgnosis mind behind Pink Floyd's covers
Storm Thorgerson (1944–2013) was the British designer who, through the studio Hipgnosis, created some of the most famous album covers in rock. He co-founded Hipgnosis in 1968 with Aubrey “Po” Powell — both Cambridge natives connected to the young Pink Floyd — and the studio spent the 1970s making elaborate, surreal, photographically-real images for Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Genesis, 10cc, Peter Gabriel and many more.
Thorgerson's covers favoured a single, strange, staged photograph over illustration or typography: a prism splitting light, a man on fire shaking hands, an inflatable pig over a power station. He preferred real, in-camera set-ups to montage wherever possible — building the impossible object, then photographing it.
Hipgnosis dissolved in 1983, but Thorgerson kept designing — including further Pink Floyd sleeves — until his death in 2013. His images, especially the Dark Side of the Moon prism, are among the most reproduced in music.
- Born
- 1944, England
- Died
- 2013
- Role
- Designer & photographer (Hipgnosis)
- Known for
- Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Genesis
Signature style
Thorgerson staged surreal scenes in the real world and photographed them straight: build the impossible thing, then shoot it. His covers usually carry no band name or title on the front, trusting a single enigmatic image — a prism, a burning handshake, a floating pig — to do all the work.
Defining covers
The Dark Side of the Moon
Pink Floyd · 1973
The prism refracting a beam into a spectrum — a minimal line-graphic (drawn by Hipgnosis collaborator George Hardie) that became one of the most recognised images on Earth.
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Wish You Were Here
Pink Floyd · 1975
Two businessmen shaking hands, one of them on fire — a real stuntman, shot in-camera — Hipgnosis's image of “getting burned” in the music business.
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Animals
Pink Floyd · 1977
An inflatable pig floating between the chimneys of Battersea Power Station, photographed for real over the London skyline — the balloon famously broke loose during the shoot.
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Band On The Run
Paul McCartney & Wings · 1973
Hipgnosis art-directed the cover's celebrity “prison-yard” tableau, catching Paul McCartney & Wings mid-escape in a spotlight.
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Cover evolution
Storm Thorgerson · 1973–1977
Every Storm Thorgerson cover in the archive
Frequently asked
- Who designed Pink Floyd's album covers?
- Most were created by Storm Thorgerson and his studio Hipgnosis, including The Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here and Animals.
- What was Hipgnosis?
- A British art-design studio founded in 1968 by Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey Powell that made surreal, photographic album covers through the 1970s before dissolving in 1983.
- Did Storm Thorgerson design the Dark Side of the Moon prism?
- The concept came from Thorgerson and Hipgnosis; the clean line-drawing of the prism was executed by their collaborator George Hardie.