Liking the look of something is more than enough reason to use it.” This easy philosophy lies at the heart of the success of Hipgnosis, the graphic-design firm responsible for some of the most legendary album covers of the ’70s and early ’80s: Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon, with its iconic prism and rainbow; Led Zeppelin’s Houses of the Holy, with its naked blond sprites ascending toward a glowing orange sky; Styx’s Pieces of Eight, an anomaly even today with its severe, sharp close-ups of glamorous middle-aged women.

Hipgnosis founders Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey Powell didn’t stray