Editing Abacab (section)

==Artwork==
[[File:Abacab colour schemes.gif|thumb|right|This four-frame animation shows all four colour schemes used for the album's cover artwork.]]
The cover was designed by English artist Bill Smith, who recalled that the group were difficult to work with as "they only ever knew what they didn't like".<ref name=ARKADE/><ref name=sleeve/> He first presented the band with portfolios from various illustrators, but the group did not find anything that they liked from them. Rutherford took Smith's sketchbook and spotted an abstract design initially made for a book, which featured an arrangement of torn inch-long pieces of paper from a Pantone swatch of colours with squiggly black lines. The band chose it as the cover, and Smith reproduced it in four different colour schemes with an embossed finish.<ref name=ARKADE>{{cite web|url=http://www.arkade.com/content/Content/Recent+Articles/Bill+Smith+Album+Cover+Design|title=An Interview with Bill Smith - Album Cover Designer Extraordinaire|publisher=Arkade|access-date=24 February 2019}}</ref> The band liked all four, and thought it would have an effective presentation on shop displays. Three of the designs had a limited print, after which their label [[Charisma Records]] selected the original montage to remain in stock.<ref name=HR81/> Smith recalled the difficulty in persuading Genesis manager [[Tony Smith (manager)|Tony Smith]] and staff at Charisma that "these tiny scraps of coloured paper" was to be the album's cover, but he was successful from having the group's backing and noted it became "his best paid job ever."{{sfn|Smith|2021|}} Genesis allowed Smith to retain the copyright to his work.{{sfn|Smith|2021|}} In a contrast to previous Genesis albums, the sleeve is absent of lyrics. Banks reasoned this would  reduce the emphasis on the words, which he thought had been overdone on previous albums, in order to make them more of a part in the album's overall sound.<ref name=sounds1981/>