2019 07 20 The Guide Blue Monday Sleeve

Anatomy of an artwork 
Peter Saville's Blue Monday

Make it new...

Blue Monday in 1983 was the first single to establish New Order as a force, after the death of Ian Curtis had ended the band's previous incarnation as Joy Division. To match their new synth sound, Peter Saville created this groundbreaking sleeve.

Ex machina...

With Joy Division, Saville had dashed album art rules, omitting the title from Unknown Pleasures and using classical imagery with Closer. For Blue Monday, he looked to machine-age aesthetics, anticipating computer-led design.

Ready to flop...

The occult black sun imprinted at its centre, attended by the dash and dot, is still recognisable as the long-obsolete floppy disk.

Writing code...

The colour chart suggests new machine-led, colour-coded design. It's literally coded, too. Saville placed a colour wheel on the back of the album Power, Corruption & Lies that helps reveal the song's title.

Grand design...

The sleeves reportedly cost so much to print that Factory Records lost money on the biggest-selling 12-inch ever. 

Skye Sherwin 

Included in New Order: Art, Product, Image 1976-1995, Spruth Magers, W1, Wed to 14 Sep