designFive Graphic of the music industry

Storm Thorgeson

and Pink Floyd

F l u m e

English

Issue No.1

legends

2 3

tv

any consider England to be the center of the design world. Countless world-famous graphic designers have emerged from England, finding incredible ways to raise the bar for cutting-edge design.

When investigating the English graphic design scene from the 1970’s and onward, it’s all about music. New genres, bands and sounds were emerging

everywhere and graphic design has had no choice but to keep up.

With music being the biggest influence for graphic design, we have decided to investigate this relationship further. How do music and design interact? How does a graphic designer bring the music to a visual sense? What process does the designer go through when cre-ating an album cover to be put in the hands of millions of listeners? What other factors influence the design?

We have chosen five graphic designers behind five bands that have managed to capture the music stage over the last forty years. Alongside their legendary, prominent music has come inspiring, influential design.

mEngland graphic design - Katrine Hesselberg, Jana Ingles, Charlotte Hellebostad, Nicklas Haslestad

4 5

StormThorgesonThe designer for big-name bands like Led Zepplin, Pink Floyd and Muse tells of his design journey.

Tappin GoftonThe studio that has designed all of Coldplay’s incredibly diverse artwork including the recent “Mylo Zyloto.”

StanleyDonwoodThe Designer of all of Radio-head’s artwork of the last 15 years talks of the relationship between music and design.

John PascheThe Designer of one of the most iconic logos of all time for one of the biggest bands of all time.

Jamie reidGave visual life to the Punk Rock movement of the 1970’s while designing for the Sex Pistols.

612

16 20

24

t

Fivebands.

five design

legends.

6 7

Storm Thorg erson

Storm Thorgerson er en en-gelsk grafiker og er definitivt et av Englands store stolthe-ter. I 1983 var han student ved og hadde planer om å bli reg-gisør, men per i dag har han ikke stått bak produksjonen av noen film, han har deri-mot hatt en finger med i det grafiske arbeidet på noen av Englands aller største band.

Words by Katrine Hesselberg

“The cow is forty years old today, and

it worked as an absolute treat. It was

so different. It was an attitude cow. It

doesn’t mean anything!”

-Storm ThorgersonAbot the famous pink floyd album

8 9

torms første grafiske arbeid fikk han ved en tilfel-

dighet; han var på rett sted til riktig tid og tok på seg

covergrafikken til bandet til en venn av seg, noe som

senere skulle vise seg å være svært fruktig. Bandet

han designet for var nemlig Pink Floyd som senere skulle bli

et av verdens mest kjente band, og fra da av jobbet Storm

Thorgerson som grafisk designer!

Storm Thorgerson var et av to medlemmer i den berømte

designduoen Hipgnosis som har satt sitt stempel på rock’n

roll historien via fotografier, illustrasjoner og flotte innpak-

ninger for noen av tidenes mest berømte band. Designduoen

har bl.a. jobbet med Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Paul McCart-

ney, Yes, Wishbone Ash, Genesis og mange fler før de brøt fra

hverandre i 1983.

Etter dette har Storm Thorgerson fortsatt å produsere plate-

covere alene, og imponerer nok en gang med store artistnavn

som bl.a. Muse, Led Zeppelin, Audioslave, Europe, som alle har

fått svært god kritikk for sitt unike design.

På et cover designet av Storm Thorgerson finner man ikke

bandet sittende i en sofa på forsiden, han har motiver, og de-

signer som ingen andre og det er vel akkurat det han er kjent

for; surrealistiske motiver som tilsynelatende ikke har rot i

virkeligheten i det hele tatt. Men betyr disse surrealistiske

motivene noe? Hvordan jobber han frem noe så utenfor vår

virkelighetsoppfatning?

Når Storm designer for forskjellige band er det ikke musikken

på et teknisk plan han henter inspirasjon fra. I et intervju med

magasinet The Rolling Stones snakker han om hans forhold til

musikken på det tekniske plan:

“I don’t have much to say about music. Usually I like it, and I

just absorb it. I don’t have much to say, and they ain’t let me say

anything anyway. They say “For God’s sake, Storm, do not harm

our song. Do not murder our tune.” So I never say anything, really,

about the music. I just let it go over, really, I suppose. It’s my job to

reinterpret it, really.”

Av og til tar han utgangspunkt i enkeltstående tekster og titler,

andre ganger tar han utgangspunkt i det store bildet; han de-

signer etter helthetsfølelsen I tekstene på plata, andre ganger

designer han etter hvordan et band fremstår på scenen, andre

ganger igjen designer han etter holdninger bandet har.

s

Coverart for Pink Floyds album Atom

Heart Mother

10 11

Om ideen bak Pink Floyds album Ummagumma sier han dette:

It was an attempt to represent the many different layers in their

music. No ephemeral pop band this, therefore no trivia, instead

wheels within wheels, layers beneath layers, tunes replete with

meaning and all this, for heaven’s sake, in the same music.’

Et av hans aller mest kjente album gjort for Pink Floyd er

coveret til plata Atom Heart Mother med kun en ku utenpå.

Dette kom av at bandet ville utforske all type musikk uten å bli

satt en merkelapp på, dermed bad de Storm Thorgerson om å

designe ”noe enkelt” som da endte opp med å bli denne kua.

“The cow is forty years old today, and it worked as an absolute

treat. It was so different. It was an attitude cow. It doesn’t mean

anything. I think the Floyd thought it was just funny. So therefore

it was about them. If a band likes it, it’s an extension oftheir own

taste.”

Han tar en følelse, vrir, vender, dytter, drar, og graver dypt

frem til han finner en morsom og uventet måte å represen-

tere budskapet på. Han liker å ha ting å referere tilbake til, at

designet hans har et svakt ekko som føres tilbake til ideen

hans, enten om det har en stor flott mening eller bare er et

morsomt påfunn!

Til høyre: Ummagumma Released 1969

Til venstre over: The Dark Side of the MoonReleased 1973

Til venstre under: Coverart for Muse Delicate Sound of ThunderReleased 1988

12 13

tappin gofton

Words by Nicklas L. Haslestad

14 15

n 1996 a British alternative rock band got formed by lead

vocalist Chris Marten and lead guitarist Jonny Buckland at

university college of London. They called themselves

Coldplay. The band has won several music awards through-

out their carerr. Such as six British Awards – Best British

Group three times, four MTV video music awards and seven

Grammy awards from twenty nominations. Coldplay is on

of the world’s best-selling music artist, with over 50 million

records sold worldwide.Their album covers has been designed

by several artist. A duo called Tappin Gofton (Mark Tappin and

Simon Gofton)that have designed the most: Xyloto, Viva La Vida

og X&Y. Tappin Gofton is a design duo from London, England.

Both Mark Tappin and Simon Gofton studied graphic design in

the 90’s. They have more than 20 years of previous commercial

experience and have produced award-winning design for the

music, fashion, arts, publishing and entertainment industries.

Besides Coldplay, they’ve designed and art directed sleeved for

bands such as The Chemical Brothers, Travis and Zoot Woman.

They have also created advertising campaigns for Adidas,

Caterpillar, Channel 4 and Mandarina Duck. Like they say:

“Our practice is supported by a close working relationship

with both clients and the creative collaborators we work

with.“ Worldwide, Tappin Gofton is best known for their

ambiguous design for the X&Y. Theye have created a strong visual

identity throughout the past years. He designes reflect so

natural around the music Coldplay has created. Tappin Gofton

inspiration was in the first place, inspired by the strong

alternative identity Coldplay shown in the Album X&Y.

inspired by

strong visual

identity

“Our practice is supported by a close

working relationship with both clients

and the creative collaborators we work with.”

i

Evey teardrop is a waterfall - Released 2011 Mylo Xyloto - Released 2011

Viva La Vida - Released 2008 X&Y - Released 2005

16 17

Wtt`

The man behind the visual identity of one of England’s biggest bands, radioheadStanley

In 1985 five English boys from Abingdon, Oxfordshire came to-gether to form what has become one of England’s most successful, world-wide known bands: Radio-head. This alternative/experimen-tal rock band has produced eight chart-topping albums and have re-ceived many awards and recogni-tions including 3 Grammy Awards.Throughout the years, Radiohead has left their artwork up to a sin-gle artist. Stanley Donwood (his real name is Dan Rickwood) has created the appearance of Radio-head for over 15 years.

Words by Jana Inglis

Don wood

18 19

tv

“The artwork kind of evolves by listening

to the music, so by the time the music is

finished, the artwork is finished. They’ve entwined together”

-STanley Donwood

his English artist/designer, born September 11th 1968,

was a fellow art student with the band’s lead singer,

Thom Yorke at the University of Exeter. Donwood

has become incredibly successful and recognized

from creating the visual identity of Radiohead, and

has even won the “Best Recording Package” Grammy Award in

2002 for the album design of “Amnesiac.”

There are several things that inspire Donwood’s work, but

when it comes to designing albums and poster art, the music

is the most influential element. For Donwood, timing is every-

thing. In an interview with Archie Ticktin from Current TV, he

says that “the artwork kind of evolves by listening to the music,

so by the time the music is finished, the artwork is finished.

They’ve entwined together” (March, 2008). Donwood’s art-

work and Radiohead’s music are being formed simultaneously

so that they grow together and reflect each other. For their

latest album “King Of Limbs,” Donwood again began working

with the artwork as the band was putting the songs together.

He says, “It works at the same sort of pace as the music…

It’s something that grows very organically.” The powerful visual

identity he has created for Radiohead known to be so in tune

with the music, that some came to believe at one point that

Donwood and Yorke were the same person. Of course they are

two different people, but they are great friends and have always

worked closely together when it comes to creating the band’s

artwork. Donwood’s artwork for Radiohead is also inspired

by his geographical location. Designing much of the artwork

in London, he admits to allowing his surroundings influence

the work he produces. Donwood says that growing up in Eng-

land with grey skies and English sarcasm has really shaped his

work, producing covers like “OK Computer” which has quite

a gloomy palette. The British mindset and English gloom are

big contributors of inspiration and are much unlike his works

produced from living on the west coast of America (such as “In

Rainbows”).

Radiohead’s success has been mirrored by Donwood’s success,

and together they have created an identity, which speaks of the

power of entwining both music and design.

“In

Rai

nbow

s” a

lbum

rel

ease

d in

200

7.

Des

igne

d on

the

Wes

t C

oast

of A

mer

ica.

“Ok

Com

pute

r” a

lbum

rel

ease

d in

199

7.

Des

igne

d n

Lond

on.

“Am

nesi

ac”

albu

m r

elea

sed

in 2

001.

Insp

ired

by “

gett

ing

lost

in L

ondo

n.”

“The artwork kind of evolves by listening

to the music, so by the time the music is

finished, the artwork is finished. They’ve entwined together”

-STanley Donwood

his English artist/designer, born September 11th 1968,

was a fellow art student with the band’s lead singer,

Thom Yorke at the University of Exeter. Donwood

has become incredibly successful and recognized

from creating the visual identity of Radiohead, and

has even won the “Best Recording Package” Grammy Award in

2002 for the album design of “Amnesiac.”

There are several things that inspire Donwood’s work, but

when it comes to designing albums and poster art, the music

is the most influential element. For Donwood, timing is every-

thing. In an interview with Archie Ticktin from Current TV, he

says that “the artwork kind of evolves by listening to the music,

so by the time the music is finished, the artwork is finished.

They’ve entwined together” (March, 2008). Donwood’s art-

work and Radiohead’s music are being formed simultaneously

so that they grow together and reflect each other. For their

latest album “King Of Limbs,” Donwood again began working

with the artwork as the band was putting the songs together.

He says, “It works at the same sort of pace as the music…

It’s something that grows very organically.” The powerful visual

identity he has created for Radiohead known to be so in tune

with the music, that some came to believe at one point that

Donwood and Yorke were the same person. Of course they are

two different people, but they are great friends and have always

worked closely together when it comes to creating the band’s

artwork. Donwood’s artwork for Radiohead is also inspired

by his geographical location. Designing much of the artwork

in London, he admits to allowing his surroundings influence

the work he produces. Donwood says that growing up in Eng-

land with grey skies and English sarcasm has really shaped his

work, producing covers like “OK Computer” which has quite

a gloomy palette. The British mindset and English gloom are

big contributors of inspiration and are much unlike his works

produced from living on the west coast of America (such as “In

Rainbows”).

Radiohead’s success has been mirrored by Donwood’s success,

and together they have created an identity, which speaks of the

power of entwining both music and design.

T

“In

Rai

nbow

s” a

lbum

rel

ease

d in

200

7.

Des

igne

d on

the

Wes

t C

oast

of A

mer

ica.

“Ok

Com

pute

r” a

lbum

rel

ease

d in

199

7.

Des

igne

d n

Lond

on.

“Am

nesi

ac”

albu

m r

elea

sed

in 2

001.

Insp

ired

by “

gett

ing

lost

in L

ondo

n.”

JO HN Words by Charlotte Hellebostad

PASCHECREATOR OF THE ROLLING STONES LOGO AND ARTWORK

22 23

ohn Pasche is an british designer, most famous for

designing the “Tongue and Lip Design” logo for The

Rolling Stones. He com-

pleted his B. A. in graphic

design from the Brighton

College of Art during the period

of 1963-1967. His M. A was com-

pleted at the Royal College of Art

in London from 1967-1970. It was

here Pasche first met Stones front-

mann Mick Jagger, that was looking

for a design student to help create

a logo. After he designed the logo

he ended up working for the Stones

from 1970-1974. Pasche said about

his meetings with Mick Jagger: «Face

to face with him, the first thing you

were aware of was the size of his lips and of his mouth».

Pasche also designed the single sleeve for the song «She’s so

cold» for the band. It is is clearly that he has been inspired

by the title of the song to create the visual design when you

see the blue tongue with icicles on.

«The first use of the logo was the

inner sleeve for the Sticky Fingers

album», Pasche said. He also de-

signed several posters for Rolling

Stones tours: namely the European

tours of 1970 and 1973, and the

American tour of 1972.

The Rolling Stones is an English rock

band, formed in London in April 1962

by Brian Jones, Ian Stewart, Mick

Jagger and Keith Richards. Since the

breakthrough the band have become

one of the world’s most recognized.

Their worldwide sales are estimated at more than 200 million

albums.

J

“Face to face with him, the first thing you

were aware of was the size of his lips and of

his mouth”

The

Rolli

ng S

tone

s- «

She’

s so

col

d» s

leev

e.

- JOHN PASCHE ABOUT MEETING MICK JAGGER

«The first use of the logo was the inner sleeve for the Sticky Fingers al-bum»

- John Pasche.

24 25

Jamiereid

I dag er The Sex Pistols kjent som punkens far; det bandet som ledet punken inn på den store musik-kscenen i England på slutten av 70-tallet dermed også punkbevege-lsens store forbilde. Ikke bare ble de kjent for musikken sin, men også bandets selve uttrykk; cd’cover, sin-gler, plakater osv var med på å ska-pe bandets identitet og er i dag kjent verden over for sitt kontroversielle og radikale uttrykk, og blir sett på som synonymt med punk! Mannen bak disse kunstverkene og dermed punkens ekte far er den britiske de-signeren Jamie Reid!

Words by Katrine Hesselberg

The Father of punk

26 27

Nev

er m

ind

the

Bollo

cks

oen år etter å ha blitt kastet ut av kunstskolen han

gikk på, for å ha ledet et studentoppgjør startet

Jamie Reid, med flere andre studenter, The Subur-

ban Printing press hvor de trykket veldig radikale,

anarkistiske og situasjonistisk materiale som hjalp

bl.a. kvinnebevegelsen og the black movement. De hadde ikke

penger, men måtte produsere stoff fort, noe som førte til at

de tok i bruk det de hadde og det som var billig rundt dem.

Det var dermed her Jamie etablerte hele utseende som se-

nere skulle skulle bli punk; røft utklippede bokstaver fra aviser,

bruken av gamle bilder og colage-teknikken.

Jamie Reid og McLaren hadde holdt kontakt siden Croydon

Art School og i 1975 tok McLaren kontakt med Reid for å få

han med på et prosjekt i London, altså Sex Pistols.

The Sex Pistols hadde en veldig samfunnskritisk holdning, og

med sanger som Anarchy in the U.K. og God save the queen

forstår man at de var svært kritiske til datidens politiske situ-

Nasjon i England. Det spekuleres den dag i dag om dette kun

var et image bandet tok på seg og at bandet kun var et stort

pr stunt, men uansett om dette var tilfellet eller ikke kan man

med hånden på hjerte si at dette var holdninger Jamie Reid

sto for. Før han startet samarbeidet med Sex Pistols hadde

han allerede ambisjoner om sosiale og politiske endringer i

samfunnet, noe som også ble en viktig faktor og den største

inspirasjonskilden da det visuelle knyttet til bandet skulle de-

signes. Jamie Reid sa på et intervju med The Guardian:

”Punk was part of a story that had been going on for the whole of

the century, if not longer - it was no more than an important bit of

that story in Britain. I mean, that’s where I was coming from, and

the move into the punk thing was a sort of disillusionment with the

whole over-intellectualization of what happened with the Situation-

ist movement and the politics of the ‘70s.

It was an attempt to take those movements into popular culture”

Man ser med dette at det var det å nå ut til publikummet med

dette budskapet som drev han, både før og under samarbei-

det med Sex Pistols, noe som resulterte i arbeider som i dag

ses på som ”det som kjennetegner punken”. Kontroversielle

og provoserende uttrykk ble designet og enkelte ganger ble

platedesignet til og med forbudt å trykke, noe som resulterte

i at cd’ene ikke ble solgt. Med det ser man at designet til Jamie

Reid har hatt stor betydning for bandet, og den dag i dag er

det ikke mange som kan tenke på punk uten å tenke på Dron-

ning Elizabeth’s piercede leppe!

Nev

er M

ind

the

Bollo

cks

- R

elea

sed

1977

XT

C’s

albu

m “

Go

2” r

elea

sed

1978

, des

igne

d by

Sto

rm T

horg

eson