What the Dark Side of the Moon Album Cover Really Means, According to Pink Floyd

“There were no arguments. We all pointed to the prism and said ‘That’s the one’.” — Roger Waters

Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon album art is a simple depiction of light refracting through a triangular prism. The light continues through the album’s gatefold art, with the ray of green in the center acting as a heartbeat — a nod to the album’s beginning and ending with a heartbeat. On the back of the album, another prism is upside down, and the rainbow and white light seamlessly flow through it, making the ribbons of light seamless.

Released in 1973, Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon is one of the most popular collection of songs in human history. It spent an absurd 996 non-consecutive weeks on the Billboard 200, a little more than 19 years. Dark Side has sold more than 45 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling and most enduring albums in recorded music history.

The album art, a simple representation of light flowing through a triangular prism, is probably itself as famous as the music…. But what does the album art mean? Where did it come from?

We’ve been honored and humbled at Bluescentric to dream up and craft official Pink Floyd merchandise on behalf of the band, and for years we’ve fielded questions about “the prism”. So we put together this article for you!

“They hadn’t really celebrated their light show.” – Storm Thorgerson

Pink Floyd had been working with design studio Hipgnosis almost since it’s founding. Their first major collaboration came with A Saucerful of Secrets in 1968, followed by a long run of albums where Hipgnosis handled the artwork or creative direction.

Founders Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey “Po” Powell were the creative force behind the now-legendary arthouse. The person who actually drew the prism was George Hardie.

Unlike many bands, Pink Floyd was quite hands off with album art, choosing instead to communicate ideas to Hipgnosis and letting their filters consider the interpretation.

Aside from the high contrast photo in the gatefold of Floyd’s previous album Meddle, the band rather famously shunned the standard “photo of the band” on albums that dominated popular music. They didn’t want a face; it was supposed to be about music.

So to that end, they instructed Hipgnosis to not have any photos or faces, any obvious narrative, or any imagery that could be dated. And they weren’t looking for any hidden deeper meanings. They were looking for something simple.

A key element of Pink Floyd’s longstanding live performances was the light show. It was a big part of the band almost from the beginning. Storm just wanted to make a nod to that light show in the simplest way possible.

So when Hipgnosis presented a series of possible choices for album covers, it was by all accounts a very quick, painless and unanimous decision.

The original Dark Side of the Moon release came with two posters and two stickers. One poster was a night shot of the pyramids of Giza, awash in sand with a green tint. The other Was a stylized live photo of the band, overlayed with photos of each member playing live. The stickers were drawings of pyramids, and were visually similar to both poster design styles.

All of the visual extras were meant to consistently flow with the cover, exploring the themes of geometrics and simplicity from different angles and styles.

The simplicity of the album art helped the visuals get out of the way of the music, and in the process became one of the most iconic pieces of branding in history…

Check out our page featuring Pink Floyd Trivia, Articles, Bands & Bio

Next, discover who the many voices are in Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon

Who were the members of Pink Floyd

“I never said anything, really, about the music. I just let it go over, really, I suppose. It’s my job to reinterpret it, really.”
– Storm Thorgerson