When you first get Photoshop it’s like, “Oh my god, bevelled edges, embossed, chrome effect, wow!” And you fucking do everything and pile everything into one picture. We’d both fucked around on computers a bit and we taught ourselves Photoshop really badly-I still don’t know what half of the things are, I think I’ve found a very narrow skill set that I refuse to deviate from in case I fuck everything up. We went to the same university (Exeter) where we both did fine art and English literature, but we used to sneak into the lovely lush carpeted graphic design area from the shitty hell hole of the fine art building. The phone rang and it was Thom, “Do you want to have a go at doing the record sleeve?” So you had to pay for calls, but when we ran out of money we’d unlock it and get the money out. I was living in this share house down in Plymouth where we had this payphone on the wall that we had the key for. The first record I did was the first single from The Bends-“My Iron Lung”-and I’d never done a record sleeve before. One blustery evening in Bath, after a couple of glasses of vino, we were lucky enough to sit down with Stanley Donwood in his studio as he pulled out the records one at a time and went through the laughs, tears, self-hatred, and last minute jubilation behind each one. His role has evolved into less hired gun, and more of an intrinsic part of who the band are and what they stand for.

More than simply designing one image for the cover of the CD case or the record, Stanley’s produced a whole catalogue of work for each release that’s as sweeping and complex as the records themselves.

Radiohead have released nine studio albums, and since The Bends in 1995, Stanley Donwood has been responsible for the covers and accompanying artwork for everyone. The images that grace the covers are etched into the consciousness of fans the world over, but the stories behind them remain largely untold.

Made in the am album cover art