Behind the Covers
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“modernist”

3 cover stories in our archive

Behind the Covers' archive includes 3 album covers documented under the "modernist" design theme, spanning the 1950s, 1980s, 2000s. These covers sit within the alternative, rock, indie, pop, jazz tradition and feature work by The Killers, Peter Gabriel, The Dave Brubeck Quartet. Each entry below includes the cover artwork, the designers and photographers behind it, and a short story about the visual choices that defined the release.

Hot Fuss by The Killers — album cover art

Hot Fuss by The Killers (2004)

Hot Fuss begins with a photograph, not a black typographic anti-cover. A hazy blue row of buildings on the outskirts of Beijing sits beneath glowing red Chinese rooftop characters, with The Killers' white dotted logo and the red album title suspended in the sky. Louis Marino handled art direction; Matthias Clamer has identified the source image as his 2000 Beijing photograph, while the original sleeve credits Seth Goldfarb / Photonica for the cover photo.

Label
Island Records
Designer
Louis Marino (art direction)
Photographer
Matthias Clamer (source photograph, first-person attribution) · Seth Goldfarb / Photonica (original sleeve cover-photo credit)
Genre
Alternative, Rock, Indie
Decade
2000s
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So by Peter Gabriel — album cover art

So by Peter Gabriel (1986)

So put Peter Gabriel's face at the center of the sleeve after years of more oblique cover concepts. Trevor Key made the close black-and-white portrait, Peter Saville designed the cover, and Brett Wickens created the distinctive So lettering. Saville later recalled using the same unusual Polaroid roll-film process he and Key had used for New Order's Low-Life portraits, combining photograph, typography and a blue campaign device into a deliberately recognizable identity.

Label
Geffen Records
Designer
Peter Saville · Brett Wickens (typography / design)
Photographer
Trevor Key
Genre
Rock, Pop
Decade
1980s
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Time Out by The Dave Brubeck Quartet — album cover art

Time Out by The Dave Brubeck Quartet (1959)

S. Neil Fujita's abstract painting for Time Out broke jazz album cover conventions, replacing typical band photos with bold modernist art that visually mirrored the experimental odd-time signatures within.

Label
Columbia Records
Designer
S. Neil Fujita
Genre
Jazz
Decade
1950s
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