kingy graphic design history: Peter Saville

The Peter Saville principle “Music covers are not graphic design, they communicate nothing”

Peter Saville is the famous creator of cover sleeves for highly regarded musical artists such as New Order and Joy Division.

A graphic designer in fashion and art projects as well as in music, his work combines a definite flair with an amazing ability to identify images that epitomise the moment.

Coming Up album for Suede, 1996

Peter Saville inventively adapted his designs directly toward the musician’s cultural aspirations and identity. His simplicity and focal point were rewarded with loyalty and freedom from musicians that were traditionally not given to graphic designers.

Saville created a long standing identity within the field of cover design however he struggled through financial hardship and at times becoming frustrated in the nineties with what he saw as a “frenzied overload of boring stock images”. Frustrated he would find stylized images and throw big words such as 'GAME OVER ' over the top of them.

With plenty of freedom sometime Saville’s designer brilliance would create difficulty when his points would overwhelm a brochure or poster in which he would leave out the actual content on which he was designing for. Once Saville found his niche within the nineties, loyal bands reapproached him for more album covers enabling Saville to combine his political views and history with photo collaboration, colour, as well as themed focal points toward the albums and as usual a great blend of clean capturing trouble free work .