The Process
“Rockford” – Reviewed by some as Cheap Trick’s greatest album since 1979 was designed and created by our very own Creative Director Richie “Britley” Hughes aka Richard Hughes. Cheap Trick as a band did not at the time like much of the photography that was available to them and also did not have the time to do another photo shoot. In steps illustrator John Johnson who as a massive fan of the band had done a series of illustrations of the 4 members – Robin Zander, Bun E. Carlos, Rick Neilsen and Tom Peterson.
John submitted the art and together with Richie they created this incredibly lively album design that was fun bright and stood off the shelf. “We even created the heads of each of the artists and had them printed on sticks so that people in the crowed could hold them up and mimic their favorite member!” The design provided the band some superb ideas for different merchandise sold on tour.
The name of the album was a tribute named after their home town in Illinois, Rockford where the band was formed back in 1974. Richie “Britley” Hughes went on to do more than five albums and is currently working on a project with band front man Robin Zander.
Laura F.
Thanks for the info on the “Rockford” CD packaging. This is such a great CD, and the cover/inside fold-out totally grab your attention. I happened to be be doing some research on sacred geometry at the time the disk came out, and love the geometric shaped heads of the guys. Very symbolic (in my twisted mind!) The whole concept is brilliant.
Clear pH
We appreciate your comments. It was certainly interesting how the different shapes represented each of the guys personalities accurately for sure. Once John Johnson had the characters we felt it only fun to continue the shapes throughout the packaging. I just Wiki’d “Sacred Geometry” – intense stuff!! cheers again for your comments!
Best wishes,
Richard Hughes
Creative Director
Laura F.
Odds are this happened purely by coincidence, but in sacred geometry, the downward facing triangle often symbolizes the divine and feminine consciousness. I found it amusing that the shape was chosen for Robin’s head, and Robin can also be a feminine name (not saying that he’s feminine, not at all, just had to laugh at the name connection and the downward triangle).