Recently, the performance of both solar cells and photovoltaic systems have been considerably improved by the use of a prismatic cover applied to cell surfaces. This cover steers light away from the metal contact fingers on the top surface of the cell that would normally obscure the cell surface. Although the experimental advantages of this approach are now well documented, there is no published analytical treatment of these covers. This paper investigates their design for both concentrating and nonconcentrating application and clarifies the potential and limitations of the approach.