"Hail to the Thief's" artwork was created by longtime Radiohead collaborator Stanley Donwood, who joined them during the recording in Hollywood. Donwood initially planned to create artwork based on photographs of phallic topiary, but the idea was rejected by Yorke. Instead, the cover art is a roadmap of Hollywood, with words and phrases taken from roadside advertising in Los Angeles, such as "God", "TV" and "oil". Donwood noted that advertising was designed to be attractive, but that there was "something unsettling" about being sold something; he took the advertising slogans out of context to "remove the imperative" and "get to the pure heart of advertising".