3 creative lessons from Netflix's Squaring the Circle

Netflix has recently released the documentary Squaring the Circle: The Story of Hipgnosis, which for audiophiles indebted to the 1970s for forming their love of music was a fascinating insight into the world of these album artwork mavericks and pioneers. Formed in the late 1960s by Aubrey Powell and Storm Thorgerson, they pushed the boundaries of conventional graphic album art design, using photography and conceptual methods to create striking, thought-provoking covers and deeply decorative, creative pieces of art.

‘London was lawless in the 1960s,’ claims Hipgnosis co-founder Aubrey ‘Po’ Powell, and in some sense so was Hipgnosis. Knowing they had a huge, captivated audience for their work, they pushed boundaries, took huge creative risks and brought a new sense of daring audacity to the album artwork. They’ll always be remembered for their association with Pink Floyd, with the Dark Side of the Moon ‘Prism’ and their ‘Burning Man’ cover for Wish You Were Here going down in music and cultural history.

Let’s be honest, things are different now, but without getting too misty eyed, I think there are a few things creative professionals could learn from some of the tactics they implemented over half a century ago.

01. Innovate and experiment

If there’s one thing that defined Hipgnosis and their work throughout the pomp of music’s '60s and '70s heyday, it’s having a playful creativity that dared to say: ‘what if we did it this way?’ They obviously had creative freedom to do this, but innovation played a huge part in their offering - artists and record labels would come to them because they knew that they weren’t afraid to do things differently. What can we learn from this? Challenge briefs, set time aside to create for the sake of it, draw, paint, take pictures, make music, and experiment with as many mediums as you possibly can to enhance how you’re responding to client requests.

02. Together is better – collaboration and group mentality

Hipgnosis was borne out of the idealistic exuberance of youth counterculture in the 1960s, and its inception was influenced by a small selection of relatively educated, creative elites that formed themselves into a self-appointed ‘popular gang.’ It’s no surprise, then, that Hipgnosis was all about collaboration. Artists, musicians, photographers, illustrators, artworkers and other associated dreamers and hangers on all played their part in making the design studio what it was. In today’s world of remote working, online meetings, shared documents and virtual collaboration, there’s something to be said for the value of getting together in the same room, talking it out, having a gang to go to the pub with and establishing one committed, dedicated unit that makes decisions together.

03. Embrace what’s now, and make it as good as it can possibly be

The days of Hipgnosis as an all-powerful creative studio in the music world relied on one thing - the importance and prominence of album artwork. When vinyl sales began to wane and new technology like portable music and cassettes came to prominence through the 1980s, the studio couldn’t keep up. But they made their mark, and they did the very best, most iconic work they possibly could with the technology available to them. They weren’t constantly trying to look too far into the future to ‘second guess’ the next trends, and it paid dividends. It’s a good reminder that no matter what’s coming round the corner, we don’t always need to get ahead of the curve. Pushing existing boundaries, challenging norms and being the very best you can be on the curve that already exists is arguably where success ultimately lies.

Though there's a lot to learn from past creativity, does nostalgia sometimes go the other way? We explore whether nostalgia is stifling creativity right here.