Storm Thorgerson

Storm Thorgerson

Who is he? British designer

Responsible for many different album covers including: Pink Floyd Audioslave The Cranberries Muse Biffy ClyroHe has produced some of the most compelling album covers of the last 40 years

His creative process:1. The Brief. The designer listens to the music (possibly only demos at this stage), reads the lyrics, and

talks to the band. These create a ‘brain soup’, from which ideas can be extracted to form the brief.2. Roughs. Over a number of meetings/days, the designer meets the band again for discussions, in an

attempt to pin-down a theme or big idea. This stage is creative, with word-play, honest thoughts, and scribblings. The best are converted to more complete illustrations (the ‘roughs’).

3. Tests. Once a rough is accepted and a budget agreed, a prototype is often created to ensure that the idea works. Depending on the idea, this could involve the creation of scale models from clay or polystyrene. If everything works, the final models are constructed.

4. Shoot. A location is researched and booked, possibly for a long-time if outdoors and in uncertain weather. Models are erected and positioned, with help from volunteers if the shoot is big and complex. A wide range of photographs are then taken, under varying light/weather conditions and filters.

5. Editing. This could be called ‘selection’, where the best shot from the shoot is chosen. This can take several days, if hundreds of similar shots need to be compared.

6. Artwork. Finally, having chosen the perfect shot, any cleaning-up or final computer editing is

performed, before handing over the final product.

Some of his work: