Pink Floyd, one of the most influential rock bands ever, released their latest box set on 13 December 2019.

Titled The Later Years, it’s a massive 18-disc box set concentrating on material created by David Gilmour, Nick Mason and Richard Wright over the last thirty years. It includes albums such as A Momentary Lapse of Reason and The Division Bell, as well as live recordings, unreleased material, exclusive merchandise, and a newly re-edited 4K version of the rarely seen film, The Delicate Sound of Thunder from 1987.

Floyd are one of the biggest selling bands of all time – and also have a visual legacy almost as famous as the music. The prism on the cover of Dark Side of the Moon? The burning man handshake? The pig that flew over a power station? A beach covered in beds as far as the eye can see? All classics. So when the chief design architect of Floyd’s visual language, Aubrey Powell (co-founder of the legendary studio Hipgnosis) approached us to pitch in a few thoughts for the final album cover, we jumped at the chance.

The search immediately began for suitably surreal ideas that could sum up a Pink Floyd compilation. After casting our design net far and wide, three ideas were shortlisted and presented to the band – and two were chosen for the front and back cover.

Pink Floyd – Later Years – 3 By Johnson Banks | Pink Floyd The Later Years | Johnson Banks

How the front cover idea evolved over time

For what became the front cover, we began exploring the idea of a single figure walking down a road where the lamp posts bend and contort as they are passed. Whether that’s due to the power of the passing child or the street furniture simply melting into a peaceful sleep is up to your own interpretation (and ‘very Floyd’, we thought).

Pink Floyd – Later Years – By Johnson Banks | Pink Floyd The Later Years | Johnson Banks

The final front cover

Working closely with Powell we then briefed the band’s favourite photographer, Rupert Truman, to travel to the Californian desert to capture outstretched roads and wide-open plains.

Pink Floyd – Later Years – 2 By Johnson Banks | Pink Floyd The Later Years | Johnson Banks

In parallel we enlisted production studio Happy Finish to sculpt the contorting lamps and help us composite the whole scene together.

Pink Floyd – Later Years – 5 By Johnson Banks | Pink Floyd The Later Years | Johnson Banks

Pink Floyd – Later Years – 4 By Johnson Banks | Pink Floyd The Later Years | Johnson Banks

Pink Floyd – Later Years – 6 By Johnson Banks | Pink Floyd The Later Years | Johnson Banks

As we experimented with different lamps, roads and skies, the ‘feel’ of the piece turned from blue skies to something altogether moodier – but with the band’s approval and Powell’s direction we progressed to the final image shown here.

Pink Floyd – Later Years – 7 By Johnson Banks | Pink Floyd The Later Years | Johnson Banks

The back cover took its inspiration from completely different sources: a black hole, and the final lyrics of each song in the boxed set. Set in circles the lyrics appear to ‘flow’ into and across the event horizon, eventually disappearing into the black hole itself.

In a static form, this creates a powerful image that becomes mesmerising when animated, creating an apt lasting memory for the back cover of the compilation.

Pink Floyd – Later Years – 9 By Johnson Banks | Pink Floyd The Later Years | Johnson Banks

Pink Floyd – Later Years – 8 By Johnson Banks | Pink Floyd The Later Years | Johnson Banks

The box set is released worldwide on 13th December 2019.

Pink Floyd – Later Years – 10 By Johnson Banks | Pink Floyd The Later Years | Johnson Banks

Below: A short animation showing the last three decades of Floyd covers, culminating in The Final Years

Pink Floyd – Later Years – 11 By Johnson Banks | Pink Floyd The Later Years | Johnson Banks

The full contents of the box set

Credits

Creative Director: Aubrey Powell
Design and art direction: Johnson Banks
Photographer: Rupert Truman
Retouching and CGI: Happy Finish
Production: Fiz Oliver
Box set production: Peter Curzon
Black hole animation: Nikita Iziev

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