David Airey is a logo designer who runs an incredibly successful blog, DavidAirey.com, that has become a valuable resource for both designers and clients. He also runs the super popular LogoDesignLove.
David couldn’t limit his choice to just one album, I don’t think I could either, and he has selected The Rolling Stones – Forty Licks and Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon. They appeal to David because they’re “distinctive, memorable and not over-complicated”.

I’m not surprised David chose a Rolling Stones album. The Tongue logo is one of the most recognised logos in the world. The tongue originally appeared on the Sticky Fingers album in it’s bright red form. It was designed by John Pasche who was paid £50 for the design with a further £200 several years later in recognition of the logo’s success. Pasche has stated that the logo was inspired by an image of the Hindu goddess Kali.

There have been several versions of the tongue over the years, all of which can be seen here. The Forty Licks album is the only one to incorporate text into the logo. The numerals 4 & 0 have been added to the tongue. The Forty Licks logo itself has been coloured and is often referred to as a “rainbow” although it’s really just a gradient of yellow, orange, red and blue. I can’t find who designed this new logo so I’ll assume for now it was someone working within the Virgin art department. If you know leave me a comment. John Pasche however continued to be heavily involved in cover art for bands and has produced work for Jimi Hendrix, Art of Noise, The Stranglers, The Vapors and loads of others.

Whilst I really appreciate the subtlety of the 4 & 0 on the tongue, and the use of the bright colours, one aspect of the cover annoys me. The layout is simple, but I find the cropping of the logo awkward and although it is recognisable enough without being featured fully I think it could have benefited from a different placement on the cover.

David’s first choice incorporated an iconic piece of design but his second choice is an iconic piece of design in itself. The Dark Side of the Moon was released in March 1973. The album originally contained two posters and a set of stickers; my copy has both intact (yay me). It was designed by Hipgnosis and George Hardie. Hipgnosis was a design group consisting of Storm Thorgerson, Aubrey Powell and Peter Christopherson. Storm Thorgerson’s career will be subject to a blog post all of it’s own soon enough but to say he has produced some of the most memorable and impressive album covers of all time is to understate his achievements. This was the album cover that really brought Hipgnosis to international eminence.

The cover features Hardie’s prism design on the front. A beam of light entering from the left is refracted in the prism creating a stylised rainbow. In white text on the black background is the name of the band and album within a white circle. The label’s logo is also shown on the lower right corner of the sleeve. On the inside of the gatefold the rainbow continues in a straight line but the green colour is shown as a pulsing soundwave. The albums lyrics are also shown in white on the black background. The rainbow continues onto the back cover of the album where the rainbow is seen refracted from a larger prism. To keep the outside of the album clean; showing only the two prisms, white light and rainbow the album information is positioned on the inside with the lyrics. This is what David means by keeping the cover distintinctive and not overly complicated.

I can find nothing wrong with the album cover; not that I was looking fomr something “wrong” with the Rolling Stones album. I like The Darkside of the Moon for the same reasons David does and the album completely deserves it’s place in musical history both for it’s visuals and the music it contains.