History Creator / Hipgnosis

* DesignStudentsOrgasm: Some of their more elaborate covers fall into this trope.

* TextlessAlbumCover: They did a few, such as Pink Floyd's ''The Dark Side of the Moon'' and ''Wish You Were Here'' and Led Zeppelin's ''In Through the Out Door''. Another Led Zeppelin album, ''Presence'', offers a variation: the text is there, but it's embossed in white on a white background, making it difficult to see unless you look closely.

http://hipgnosiscovers.com/ has an extensive archive of images created by Hipgnosis and their friends. [[http://aubreypowell.com/HOME.html Aubrey Powell]] also has an official website. (Storm Thorgerson once had one too, but it's offline.) The studio also participated in several books about its work; the 2017 publication ''Vinyl. Album. Cover. Art. The Complete Hipgnosis Catalogue'' lists all the album covers from the classic period. (It doesn't include the revivals mentioned above, singles bags, music-related memorabilia like posters and adverts, or any of their non-music related work, but you can't have everything...) And the history of the studio was the subject of a 2022 {{documentary}}, ''[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10850264/ Squaring the Circle]]''.

http://hipgnosiscovers.com/ has an extensive archive of images created by Hipgnosis and their friends. [[http://aubreypowell.com/HOME.html Aubrey Powell]] also has an official website. (Storm Thorgerson once had one too, but it's offline.) The studio also participated in several books about its work; the 2017 publication ''Vinyl. Album. Cover. Art. The Complete Hipgnosis Catalogue'' lists all the album covers from the classic period. (It doesn't include the revivals mentioned above, singles bags, music-related memorabilia like posters and adverts, or any of their non-music related work, but you can't have everything...) And the history of the studio was the subject of a 2022 {{documentary}} ''[[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10850264/ Squaring the Circle]]''.

http://hipgnosiscovers.com/ has an extensive archive of images created by Hipgnosis and their friends. [[http://aubreypowell.com/HOME.html Aubrey Powell]] also has an official website. (Storm Thorgerson once had one too, but it's offline.) The studio also participated in several books about its work; the 2017 publication ''Vinyl. Album. Cover. Art. The Complete Hipgnosis Catalogue'' lists all the album covers from the classic period. (It doesn't include the revivals mentioned above, singles bags, music-related memorabilia like posters and adverts, or any of their non-music related work, but you can't have everything...)

Storm and Po became so busy that in 1974, they promoted their assistant Peter Christopherson to a full-time third member; Christopherson remained with Hipgnosis even after he joined Music/ThrobbingGristle. However, by the mid-1970s, times were changing. Prog and metal were out, PunkRock was in, and with a few exceptions such as Music/{{XTC}}, the new crop of bands that followed in punk's wake had little use for Hipgnosis' elaborate imagery. Consumers were also moving away from large [=LPs=] to smaller cassettes, where it was difficult for them to make out fine details in the artwork, so sipmpler, striking designs became the order of the day. Although the studio continued into TheEighties, by 1983 they'd transformed themselves into a MusicVideo company called Greenback Films, which eventually dissolved due to CreativeDifferences.

Storm and Po became so busy that in 1974, they promoted their assistant Peter Christopherson to a full-time third member; Christopherson remained with Hipgnosis even after he joined Music/ThrobbingGristle. However, by the mid-1970s, times were changing. Prog and metal were out, PunkRock was in, and with a few exceptions such as Music/{{XTC}}, the new crop of bands that followed in punk's wake had little use for Hipgnosis' elaborate imagery. Although the studio continued into TheEighties, by 1983 they'd transformed themselves into a MusicVideo company called Greenback Films, which eventually dissolved due to CreativeDifferences.

* ManOnFire: Music/PinkFloyd's ''[[http://hipgnosiscovers.com/images/496_wywh_lp_holland_front.jpg Wish You Were Here]]''.

* Music/PaulMcCartney and Music/{{Wings}}

* ProducePelting: Music/{{Yes}} keyboardist Music/RickWakeman was so displeased with Hipgnosis' album art proposal for the upcoming ''Yes Tor'' album, that he threw a tomato at the artwork. The effect was [[ThrowItIn incorporated into the artwork]] and the album was dubbed ''Tormato''.

* EenieMeenieMinyMoai: Music/{{Styx}}'s ''[[http://hipgnosiscovers.com/styx/piecesofeight.html Pieces of Eight]]''.

* EverythingsBetterWithDinosaurs: [[http://www.hipgnosiscovers.com/quatermass.html The cover]] of Music/{{Quatermass}}' SelfTitledAlbum features pteranodons flying around horizontal (!) skyscrapers that seem to stretch on forever.

* Roger Taylor of Music/{{Queen}}

* AwesomeMcCoolname: Storm Thorgerson, a famous rock & roll photographer, was even cooler because his name made him sound like [[UsefulNotes/TheVikingAge a Viking warrior]].

After Hipgnosis, Storm Thorgerson formed [=STd=] (Storm Thorgerson Design), then [=StormStudios=], and continued doing album covers (and eventually CD booklets); although he mostly designed for younger bands like Music/{{Muse}}, Music/BiffyClyro, Music/CatherineWheel and Music/TheCranberries, he still worked on most Music/PinkFloyd-related projects. He died in 2013, and [[DiedDuringProduction he was active until the very end]]. (In accordance with [[http://us2.campaign-archive2.com/?u=30adec2edf9e7e995a3ac90d0&id=c1255d04bf&e=a725bb81ce Thorgerson's wishes]], [=StormStudios=] has carried on without him.) Aubrey Powell is currently a film director and has co-written two books with Thorgerson. Peter Christopherson continued making music (with Music/ThrobbingGristle, and later with Psychic TV and Music/{{Coil}}), as well as directing music videos and TV commercials, until his death in 2010. In 2014 and 2015 Powell, who owns the Hipgnosis name, [[{{Revival}} revived]] it for Pink Floyd's GrandFinale ''Music/TheEndlessRiver'' and David Gilmour's solo album ''Rattle That Lock''; in 2019, he used it again for another Floyd project, the massive BoxedSet ''The Later Years 1987-2019''. These will likely be the final projects credited to the studio.

** Two more Pink Floyd examples, both from ''Music/WishYouWereHere1975'': the "fire man" image on is a metaphor for "getting burned" in the music business suggested by George Hardie, and TheBlank salesman in the desert is a literal "empty suit".

Where are these scenes from? Old movies, or some forgotten GenreAnthology series? Actually, they're all from the work of a studio that designed album covers for some of England's best known bands. (In order, they're the covers of Music/PinkFloyd's ''Music/WishYouWereHere'', Music/{{UFO|Band}}'s ''[[http://hipgnosiscovers.com/ufo/phenomenon.html Phenomenon]]'' and Audience's ''[[http://hipgnosiscovers.com/audience/thehouseonthehill.html The House on the Hill]]''.) Welcome to the world of Hipgnosis.

** 1975 - ''Music/WishYouWereHere''

* TheBlank: [[http://tinyurl.com/pinkfloydfacelessman One image]] from Music/PinkFloyd's ''Music/WishYouWereHere'' depicts a faceless man in the desert dressed in business attire and hawking Pink Floyd records. To add to the effect, the man's wrists and ankles (the only parts of his body that show besides his "face") are invisible, implying that on some level he doesn't even exist, which ties in to the album's theme of absence.

** Two more Pink Floyd examples, both from ''Music/WishYouWereHere'': the "fire man" image on is a metaphor for "getting burned" in the music business suggested by George Hardie, and TheBlank salesman in the desert is a literal "empty suit".

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hipgnosis_portrait.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Left to right: [[Music/ThrobbingGristle Peter]] [[Music/{{Coil}} Christopherson]], Aubrey Powell and Storm Thorgerson in TheSeventies.]]

* Music/TenCcW* Music/{{Anthrax}}

!!Hipgnosis clients and albums with Wiki/TVTropes pages:

!!Storm Thorgerson/[=STd=]/[=StormStudios=] post-Hipgnosis clients with Wiki/TVTropes pages:
* Music/TenCc
* Music/{{Anthrax}}

* Music/MickTaylor of Music/TheRollingStones[[note]]Hipgnosis was also the original choice for the Stones' ''Music/GoatsHeadSoup'' cover, but their work was never used[[/note]]

* VulgarHumor: The covers for Music/{{Scorpions}}' ''[[http://hipgnosiscovers.com/scorpions/lovedrive.html Lovedrive]]'' and ''[[http://hipgnosiscovers.com/scorpions/animalmagnetism.html Animal Magnetism]]'', as well as the picture sleeve for The Cortinas' punk single "[[http://hipgnosiscovers.com/thecortinas/defiantpose.html Defiant Pose]]", which is a VomitIndiscretionShot.

* Music/{{Scorpions}}

''Saucerful'' turned out so well that Hipgnosis was offered more work by the Floyd's label and booking agent. Throughout TheSeventies, the studio's reputation grew as they were commissioned by some of the biggest names in British music (see the list below); along with artist Roger Dean, they helped create the look of ProgressiveRock and HeavyMetal. Their work is notable for its use of {{surrealism}}; in those pre-Photoshop days, their enigmatic images had to be created in RealLife, or through retouching and other trickery, instead of clicking on a mouse. Hipgnosis is also remembered for the stories their vivid images told, often using ScienceFiction tropes. (Speaking of sci-fi, Hipgnosis designed covers for Creator/DouglasAdams' ''Radio/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' albums and Norman Spinrad's novel ''Literature/BugJackBarron''.)

* Music/{{Pendulum}}

* WipeThatSmileOffYourFace: Rael is shown like this on the back cover of Music/{{Genesis}}' ''Music/TheLambLiesDownOnBroadway'', as well as [[http://hipgnosiscovers.com/images/496_lamb_ad_uk_1.jpg this British press advert]]. Hipgnosis had originally suggested the idea for Music/MottTheHoople, but [[ExecutiveMeddling an executive]] at their label Creator/ColumbiaRecords rejected it.