BEATLES MAGAZINE: JANN HAWORTH: THE DESIGNER BEHIND THE BEATLES' ALBUM COVER

Wednesday, 29 October 2025

JANN HAWORTH: THE DESIGNER BEHIND THE BEATLES' ALBUM COVER

Jann Haworth is the British-American pop artist who co-created the iconic album cover for The Beatles´Sgt Pepper´s Lonely Hearts Club Band with her then-husband, Peter Blake.

They designed a collage with the band members and life-sized cardboard cut-outs of 88 celebrities, and the final design was photographed by Michael Cooper.

A remarkable artistic contribution to one of the most celebrated album covers in music history, The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, was made by a Utah-based woman named Jann Haworth.

At the tender age of 24, Haworth was commissioned by The Beatles to co-design the striking visual for their groundbreaking 1967 album. Recalling the creative process, she casually mentions visiting Paul McCartney's house to hear early tracks. She played a key role in developing the now-iconic concept: a detailed, full-scale scene featuring the band surrounded by life-sized cardboard cutouts of various cultural figures.

Haworth notes the nostalgic quality of the cover, particularly the band's choice of "uniforms from a different era. More than five decades later, Haworth holds her work in a new light.

Her personal connection to the legacy is visible in her Salt Lake City home, where her Grammy Award—now bearing dog chew marks—sits not on a pedestal, but casually on the sofa.

She laughs off its damaged state, saying its lack of "precious" display reflects her practical view.

She now recognizes the cover's shortcomings, admitting to "deficits," particularly the limited representation of women: "Only twelve women, and six are fictional."

Since relocating to Utah in the 1990s, Haworth has dedicated herself to addressing these historical gaps through public art. Her local mural, "SLC Pepper," located near Pioneer Park, is a direct "apology or revisiting" of the original cover's gender imbalance, reimagining the scene with 50% women.

Her current artistic mission continues this focus on inclusion, engaging local artists, students, and communities in large-scale public art projects. She emphasizes that her collaborative murals and installations are designed to "paint a fuller picture," ensuring that everyone’s story is reflected.

Haworth believes that stagnation is failure, stating, "If you don’t change as you grow older and wiser and more informed, there’s something wrong." If she were to design a modern Sgt. Pepper cover, she says it would be "so different," featuring a black sky, blues musicians, and "women from different walks of life."