Behind the Covers

text-free

1 cover story in our archive

Behind the Covers' archive includes 1 album cover documented under the "text free" design theme, all from the 1970s. The cover sits within the rock, alternative tradition and features work by Joy Division. 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.

Unknown Pleasures by Joy Division — album cover art

Unknown Pleasures by Joy Division (1979)

Peter Saville placed a data visualization of radio pulses from the first pulsar ever discovered on the cover with no text — no band name, no album title, no label logo — creating one of the most widely reproduced images in popular culture.

Label
Factory Records
Designer
Peter Saville
Genre
Rock, Alternative
Decade
1970s
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