The Clash designer Ray Lowry dies

The cartoonist and artist Ray Lowry has died aged 64. While he contributed to a number of publications, notably Private Eye, 1960's underground magazine OZ and the New Musical Express, one of his best-known works remains the album cover design he produced for the seminal 1980 Clash album, London Calling (pictured).

Lowry used a photograph of Paul Simonon, pounding his bass guitar into the stage after a show at the New York Palladium in September 1979, taken by Pennie Smith and named the best rock'n'roll photograph of all time by Q magazine. He then framed it with the words "London" and "Calling" using a typeface, colour scheme and design that referenced the sleeve of Elvis Presley's debut album. The suggestion was that the Clash's music offered the same sense of swagger and danger that Presley's had 20 years earlier.

Said James McMahon, features editor of the NME: "It's just an amazing image that on its own would win him a place in the lexicon of rock'n'roll dudes."