Who designed the cover artwork for Blow Up? How did it come about?
Blow Up’s cover was designed by Saul Bass, a dean of American graphic design whose other notable achievements include the opening credits of Psycho and IBM’s horizontal-striped logo. Bass agreed to work with the band a first for him, and definitely a step down in station after hearing their previous albums and, presumably, after being lobbied by his kids, who were Smithereens fans. You can learn more about Saul Bass in Philip Meggs’ A History of Graphic Design (Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1992), or in The Masters Series: Saul Bass (Visual Arts Museum of the School of Visual Arts, New York). Saul Bass died in 1996.
