The cover artwork was designed by David Carson . A section within his book '' Fotografiks '' reveals that the top section of the album cover is from a photo of a waterfall and the bottom section is from a closeup photo of the inside of a seashell . Carson elaborated on this further in an image on his website : On September 10 , 1998 , at the 1998 MTV Video Music Awards , a thirty-second teaser trailer was shown on television to promote the then untitled album . It would be more than a year before the album was finally released
1998 MTV Video Music Awards
1998 MTV Video Music Awards
The Fragile (Nine Inch Nails album)