Richard Evans is best known for his work with The Who. Since 1976 he has been at the creative helm producing all manner of visuals and wonderful album covers for both the group and their solo albums.
Born in 1945
Richard studied fashion design at Nottingham School of Art in the 1960s, followed by a post-graduate course in graphic design at Leicester. In the early 1970s he founded his own shoe design company Daisy Roots with an outlet in Harrods. His multi-coloured platforms could be seen under the feet of Elton John, Roxy Music and The Osmonds.
Hipgnosis
At this time, he met Aubrey Powell and Storm Thorgerson and later worked at Hipgnosis, heading up the studio's new graphic design department. As well as working on designs for what were to become some of the most classic album covers of all time, he occasionally actually featured in them; Richard can be seen in the inner spread of the gatefold cover for 10cc’s How Dare You!, as well as a number of arm or hand shots.
"In a tatty first-floor studio in Denmark Street on the edge of Soho, I had the best of all groundings in album cover design. I already had the basics of graphic design and paste-up, but here I was designing logos and lettering, teaching myself how to airbrush and retouch photographs, and helping to produce artworks for what were later to become classic album covers."
In 1976 he left Hipgnosis to set up his own design studio, Richard Evans Design, and began a long standing relationship with The Who. He has remained at the creative helm for The Who ever since, producing all manner of merchandise and wonderful album covers for both their group and solo albums. The art of the album cover is where Richard Evans’ true passion lies.
"I just love album covers. I love designing them and I love looking at other people's work. I often think how odd it is to be a designer constantly confined to working within a square format, but in the 70 years that album covers have been around, it's quite extraordinary to see what the designers of yesterday and today have made of it."