2 cover stories in our archive
Behind the Covers' archive includes 2 album covers documented under the "optical illusion" design theme, spanning the 1970s, 2000s. These covers sit within the electronic, experimental, pop, jazz, funk tradition and feature work by Animal Collective, Herbie Hancock. 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.
Animal Collective's Merriweather Post Pavilion cover turns a static square into an apparent moving surface. Rob Carmichael of SEEN handled the LP/CD art direction and design, building the cover around an optical pattern based on work by Japanese psychologist Akiyoshi Kitaoka.
Psychedelic poster artist Victor Moscoso created this mind-bending tribal mask design using his signature vibrating color technique, making it one of the most visually arresting jazz album covers ever produced and helping Herbie Hancock cross over to funk audiences.