Grids: Covers Archives

THURSDAY NIGHT! Illustrated Covers of Viva Lewes by Neil Gower

TICKETS STILL AVAILABLE!!

Illustrator/graphic artist Neil Gower has been creating covers for monthly UK regional entertainment magazine Viva Lewes since 2007. Gower creates the complete cover, image, typography, and logo, using a different stylized treatment for each issue; he has illustrated over 40 to date. His influences are vintage illustrated covers from the early 1900s, painters like Matisse and Picasso, and whatever cultural iconography seems appropriate. The artwork is all produced old school-style, painted and drawn by hand, and then scanned for reproduction. The result has been a brilliantly memorable series of illustrated covers.

Gower will be speaking at the Type Directors Club in NYC on May 26 at 6.30 about his book and magazine cover illustrations, as well as his extensive work on illustrated maps. "Jackets, Genius and Putting the 'Art' Into Cartography" will be a memorable evening of visual inspiration.

We talked with Gower about the process behind his striking Viva Lewes covers, and he shared a gallery of some of his favorites.

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Cover of the Day: Conde Nast Traveler, November 2015

Cover of the Day 10.23.15 posted by The Editors

Welcome to SPD's Cover of the Day, a portfolio of brilliant magazine and newspaper covers from around the world.

Conde Nast Traveler, November, 2015

Creative Director: Yolanda Edwards

Contributing Design Director: Caleb Bennett

Photographer: Pari Dukovic

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Want to submit your cover to be considered for our Cover of the Day? Send us a jpeg of your cover with credit info to SPDsubmissions@gmail.com

Washingtonian Covers by Creative Director Michael Goesele

Covers 05.25.15 posted by Robert Newman

Michael Goesele has been the creative director of regional magazine Washingtonian for the past four years. During that time he crafted a bright, engaging, energetic visual identity for the magazine, utilizing lots of bold imagery and creative typography.

Michael recently left his post at Washingtonian to move on to other projects, and SPD asked him to select 10 of his favorite covers.

"These covers reflect our desire to make our readers smile and get excited," says Michael. "We wanted to surprise them every month when they reached into their mailboxes or walked by the newsstand."

You can see much more of Michael's cool work at Washingtonian on his website.

(Above): Washingtonian, February 2012. Photo-illustration: Jesse Lenz.
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Cover of the Day - Esquire April 2015

Cover of the Day 03.13.15 posted by The Editors

coverofthedayicon-thumb-55x78-19105-thumb-53x75-19107-thumb-50x70-19108-1.jpg

Welcome to SPD's Cover of the Day, a portfolio of brilliant magazine and newspaper covers from around the world.

Esquire April 2015

Design Director: David Curcurito
Photography Director: Michael Norseng

Art Director: Stravinski Pierre

Deputy Art Director: Benjamin Caruba

Senior Designer: Tito Jones

Photographer: Robert Trachtenberg

Want to submit your cover to be considered for our Cover of the Day? Send us a jpeg of your cover with credit info to SPDsubmissions@gmail.com

Cover of the Day : The Believer Jan/Feb 2015

Cover of the Day 02.06.15 posted by The Editors

Welcome to SPD's Cover of the Day, a portfolio of brilliant magazine and newspaper covers from around the world.

Art Directors: Dan McKinley, Sunra Thompson

Detail of a mural from Electric Lady Studios: Lance Jost

Want to submit your cover to be considered for our Cover of the Day? Send us a jpeg of your cover with credit info to SPDsubmissions@gmail.com

Edel Rodriguez's "Controversial" Newsweek Cover Illustration

Covers 02.05.15 posted by Robert Newman

Last week's Newsweek cover, "What Silicon Valley Thinks of Women," stirred up a storm of controversy on social media, news sites, and TV. The cover, illustrated by Edel Rodriguez and art directed by Grace Lee, was attacked as "sexist," "ignorant," "obscene," and "offensive." (Mediate has a good rundown of the many Twitter attacks on the cover.) The Today Show website ran an article titled "Sexism still alive and well in Silicon Valley (and on Newsweek cover)." and Techcrunch followed with "What (Some) Silicon Valley Women Think of Newsweek." The Today Show show even ran an outraged segment on their morning show.

Edel Rodriguez defended the cover and his illustration in interviews with PBS and the Huffington Post. He explained it perfectly to The Huffington Post:

"I wanted to depict the harassment that women suffer. How the harassment can be unexpected and come out of nowhere. To show that frozen moment of shock, when a woman is just going about their life at work and something like this happens. I wanted to have the viewer see that moment when they look on a newsstand, and to be shocked themselves. Then be compelled to pick up the magazine and read the story behind the cover. These harassers have spent much of their lives behind a computer, seeing women as objects. I wanted them to be confronted with their stupidity as well. Hopefully by seeing it there, frozen in time, they could come to terms with what they are doing."

Flavorwire weighed in and said, "Stop Freaking Out About Newsweek's Silicon Valley Cover and Read the Story." Their writer commented that "the cover was an extremely accurate representation of the content" that "did its job."

To put this controversy into context, we've asked for thoughts from former Time magazine art director Arthur Hochstein, and have collected a gallery of eight other Newsweek covers illustrated by Edel over the past few years. Edel (who was a longtime cover art director for Time International) has collected some of his interviews on the subject on his Drawger page.

(Above): Newsweek, February 6, 2015. Illustration: Edel Rodriguez, art director: Grace Lee
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Cover the Day: Bloomberg Businessweek January 26,2015

Cover of the Day 01.23.15 posted by The Editors

Welcome to SPD's Cover of the Day, a portfolio of brilliant magazine and newspaper covers from around the world.

Bloomberg Businessweek, January 26, 2015

Creative Director: Robert Vargas

Deputy Creative Director: Tracy Ma

Design Director: Cynthia Hoffman

Director of Photography: Clinton Cargill

Want to submit your cover to be considered for our Cover of the Day? Send us a jpeg of your cover with credit info to SPDsubmissions@gmail.com

Cover the Day: Girls Like Us Issue #6

Covers 01.16.15 posted by The Editors

Welcome to SPD's Cover of the Day, a portfolio of brilliant magazine and newspaper covers from around the world.

Girls Like Us, Issue #6

Designers: Sara Kaaman, Stina Löfgren

Founder and Editor: Jessica Gysel

Want to submit your cover to be considered for our Cover of the Day? Send us a jpeg of your cover with credit info to SPDsubmissions@gmail.com

Cover of the Day: Lucky Peach Winter 2014

Cover of the Day 12.05.14 posted by The Editors

Welcome to SPD's Cover of the Day, a portfolio of brilliant magazine and newspaper covers from around the world.

Lucky Peach Winter 2014

Art Director: Walter Green

Cover Photo: Gabriele Stabile & Hannah Clark

Cover Cookies By: Amelia Coulter (Sugarbuilt)

Want to submit your cover to be considered for our Cover of the Day? Send us a jpeg of your cover with credit info to SPDsubmissions@gmail.com

Cover of the Day: Glamour December 2014

Cover of the Day 11.24.14 posted by The Editors

Welcome to SPD's Cover of the Day, a portfolio of brilliant magazine and newspaper covers from around the world.

Glamour December 2014

Creative Director: Paul Ritter

Photographer: Tom Munro

Fashion Editor: Laura Ferrara

Fashion Photo Editor: Ashley Taliento

Want to submit your cover to be considered for our Cover of the Day? Send us a jpeg of your cover with credit info to SPDsubmissions@gmail.com

Cover of the Day: Nylon November 2014

Cover of the Day 11.21.14 posted by The Editors

Welcome to SPD's Cover of the Day, a portfolio of brilliant magazine and newspaper covers from around the world.

Nylon November 2014

Creative Director: Renee Rupcich
Art Director: Haley Stark

Director of Photography: Beth Garrabrant

Photographer: Felisha Tolentino

Want to submit your cover to be considered for our Cover of the Day? Send us a jpeg of your cover with credit info to SPDsubmissions@gmail.com

Cover of the Day: Better Homes and Gardens November 2014

Cover of the Day 11.14.14 posted by The Editors

Welcome to SPD's Cover of the Day, a portfolio of brilliant magazine and newspaper covers from around the world.

Better Homes and Gardens November 2014

Creative Director: Michael D. Belknap

Senior Design Director: Shelley Caldwell

Photography Coordinator: Holly Pruett

Photographer: Andy Lyons

Food Stylist: Greg Luna

Prop Stylist: Sue Mitchell

Want to submit your cover to be considered for our Cover of the Day? Send us a jpeg of your cover with credit info to SPDsubmissions@gmail.com

Cover of the Day: Harper's Bazaar November 2014

Cover of the Day 10.31.14 posted by The Editors

Welcome to SPD's Cover of the Day, a portfolio of brilliant magazine and newspaper covers from around the world.

Harper's Bazaar November 2014

Creative Director: Stephen Gan

Design Director: Elizabeth Hummer
Photography and Bookings Director: Liane Radel

Photographer: Alex Lubomirski

Want to submit your cover to be considered for our Cover of the Day? Send us a jpeg of your cover with credit info to SPDsubmissions@gmail.com

Cover Of the Day: WIRED, October 2014

Cover of the Day 10.17.14 posted by The Editors

Welcome to SPD's Cover of the Day, a portfolio of brilliant magazine and newspaper covers from around the world.

WIRED October, 2014

Creative Director: Billy Sorrentino
Illustrator: Oliver Munday

Director of Photography: Patrick Witty

Sr. Producer: Sowjanya Kudva

Editor in Chief: Scott Dadich

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Cover of the Day: Variety: October 2014

Covers 10.13.14 posted by The Editors

Welcome to SPD's Cover of the Day, a portfolio of brilliant magazine and newspaper covers from around the world.

Variety October, 2014
Creative Director: Chris Mihal
Director of Photography: Bailey Franklin

Photography: Williams + Hirakawa

Want to submit your cover to be considered for our Cover of the Day? Send us a jpeg of your cover with credit info to SPDsubmissions@gmail.com

The rest of the covers in the series after the jump...

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Cover of the Day: Modern Farmer Fall 2014

Cover of the Day 10.03.14 posted by The Editors

Welcome to SPD's Cover of the Day, a portfolio of brilliant magazine and newspaper covers from around the world.

Modern Farmer Fall 2014
Art Director: Sarah Gephart
Director of Photography: Luise Stauss and Ayanna Quint
Photographer: Richard Bailey

Model: Buttons

Want to submit your cover to be considered for our Cover of the Day? Send us a jpeg of your cover with credit info to SPDsubmissions@gmail.com

Cover Of the Day: Bloomberg Businessweek

Cover of the Day 09.26.14 posted by The Editors

Welcome to SPD's Cover of the Day, a portfolio of brilliant magazine and newspaper covers from around the world.

Bloomberg Businessweek September 24, 2014

Design Director: Rob Vargas

Illustration By: 731

The Thoughts Behind It

Want to submit your cover to be considered for our Cover of the Day? Send us a jpeg of your cover with credit info to SPDsubmissions@gmail.com

Cover of the Day: Time, September 1, 2014

Cover of the Day 08.22.14 posted by The Editors

Welcome to SPD's Cover of the Day, a portfolio of brilliant magazine and newspaper covers from around the world.

Time Magazine September 1, 2014

Design Director: D.W. Pine

Photographer: Scott Olson / Getty Images

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Want to submit your cover to be considered for our Cover of the Day? Send us a jpeg of your cover with credit info to SPDsubmissions@gmail.com

Unzip Marie Claire's New August Cover

Covers 07.22.14 posted by The Editors

ESPN: Body 2014

Covers 07.08.14 posted by The Editors

The 2014 edition of ESPN's annual Body hits newsstands with six covers including (in order below) Olympic snowboarder Jamie Anderson, Seattle Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch, Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps (above), Texas Ranger first baseman Prince Fielder, Oklahoma City Thunder forward Serge Ibaka and seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams. … MORE

101 Kick-Ass Music Covers

Covers 04.06.14 posted by The Editors

The new issue of Adweek magazine features the remarkable spread pictured below: 101 magazines with musicians on the cover. Compiled by Robert Newman and Adweek creative director Nick Mrozowski and executive editor Tony Case, it highlights 80 years of musical covers, from Eddie Cantor in 1937 to Kanye West and Questlove in 2014. In addition to many of our favorite popular magazines (Rolling Stone, Vibe, Vanity Fair, GQ, Wired), the collection also has classic covers from Spin, Blaze, Crawdaddy, Punk, The Source, Sassy, and more.

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Then & Now: Covering The March on Washington (The 50th Anniversary)

Covers 08.25.13 posted by The Editors

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This week marks the 50th anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous "I Have a Dream Speech," and hundreds of thousands of people demonstrated in support of civil rights, voting rights, and economic justice. The anniversary is being remembered in many ways, including a large demonstration in Washington, and of course, a number of magazine and publication covers. We've gathered some of the best publication coverage of the March when it happened, as well as some recent covers, plus buttons, posters, LP covers, and other graphics from the event. Civil rights historian Taylor Branch has a wonderful essay, Remembering the March, that was excerpted in USA Weekend and is available in full on his website. It's a powerful look back at the March and King's speech, as well as analysis on what it means for the country today. -- Robert Newman and Josh Klenert

Above: National Urban League. "We Shall Overcome: March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom," 1963. Portfolio cover by Louis Lo Monaco. (Library of Congress)

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ESPN the Magazine's 'Body Issue' -- Vote for Your Fave

Covers 07.09.13 posted by The Editors

Heating up newsstands, ESPN the Magazine has released a preview images from their annual "Body Issue," which features Colin Kaepernick, John Wall, race car driver Courtney Force and over a dozen other athletes showing off their most natural form.

Above: The biggest surprise from this year's issue, which comes out Friday, is 77-year-old golfer Gary Player.

Vote now on your fave at ESPN.com.

Above: ESPN the Magazine, July 2013. VP/Creative Director,

Digital and Print Media: John Korpics

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People Magazine covers Newtown

Covers 12.20.12 posted by The Editors

People Magazine's Design Director Andrea Dunham on their extraordinary year end cover.

Dunham: This is the last cover of the year. It was supposed to be our annual year end issue called "The Best and Worst of 2012": a big fun entire issue dedicated to mirth and escape. But last Friday there was no escaping the brutal horror and heartbreak of the senseless loss of a staggering number of our babies and loved ones, as it became instantly clear each victim was one of our own families in our hearts and will remain so forever. Therefore the editors of People and myself as Design Director, with heavy hearts but with all genuine good intention, made our cover story a mourning but celebration of the lives each of the victims of Sandy Hook Elementary. We hope that those of you who trust our integrity will get past the grief you'll feel at the sight of these innocent young faces, and read our very moving portraits of survivors, extraordinary heroism, unfathomable heartbreak and the beautiful lives they led. We wont forget them. I certainly won't be able to."

Cover of the day: Monday Edition

Covers 08.27.12 posted by The Editors

Welcome to SPD's Cover of the Day, a portfolio of brilliant magazine and newspaper cover design from around the world.

Entertainment Weekly, August 31, 2012

Design Director: Kory Kennedy
Photography Director: Lisa Berman
Managing Photography Director: Sarah Czeladnicki
Photo Editor: Michele Romero
Imaging: Daniel Thompson
Managing Editor: Jess Cagle
Photographer: Frank Ockenfels 3

Entertainment Weekly has cut loose 4 collectible covers for the new season of The Walking Dead (appearing on newsstand and your tablet). see the full set after the jump...

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Digital Buzz Replacing Newsstand Buzz?

Covers 05.22.12 posted by Josh Klenert

May 21, 2012 may not go down in cover history the same way as the week Time and Newsweek both featured a young Bruce Springsteen on their covers -- but it could be noted both pubs continued a recent trend of buzzworthy covers.

In this wired world, the pressure for a cover to "pop" has become more important in the digital space rather than the traditional, physical newsstand. Time, Newsweek and Bloomberg Businessweek have all been seeing success with this formula.

The New York Times reported about the trend over the weekend. Of the Time breast-feeding cover, they said:

"We had a cover that captured lightning in a bottle," said Richard Stengel, managing editor of Time. "It's obviously a story that hit a nerve."

A Time spokeswoman said the breast-feeding cover was its best-selling issue this year, and Time doubled the number of subscriptions typically ordered in a week.

Taking their cues from digital counterparts, magazines are as interested in hitting nerves on social media as on the newsstand. The Time cover left an even more impressive mark online. On the day after the cover appeared, terms related to the cover were four out of the top five searches on Google. In the eight days after its publication, the cover was mentioned over 50,000 times on Twitter, and the magazine's Twitter followers spiked. Time also received 43,000 likes on Facebook.

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SI's Annual March Madness

Covers 03.16.12 posted by Josh Klenert

It's that time of year: March Madness! The 2012 edition has a few additions: from men's teams to women's team and mascots to Facebook fans. Sports Illustrated Creative Director Chris Hercik shares some insight into the annual cover:

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TIME: How You Like Mitt Now?

Covers 01.05.12 posted by Josh Klenert

Fresh off a "win" Tuesday night, TIME magazine revisits Mr. 25% Mitt Romney with a cover that nods to their Dec 12, 2011 cover (right). More on the cover store here at TIME Swampland. (left: Jan 16, 2012)

Cover photograph by Brooks Kraft

The 10 Greatest Steve Jobs Magazine Covers of All Time

Covers 10.06.11 posted by Robert Newman

CO-WRITTEN WITH SAM KUO

In November 2009, Fortune magazine picked Apple's Steve Jobs as the CEO of the decade, and ran this cool cover (design director: John Korpics; photograph by Albert Watson). Jobs has been the go-to tech dude for business mags and newsweeklies for over 20 years, and it got us thinking about all the covers that he has appeared on. Fortunately, art director Sam Kuo over at Kuo Design has created the Steve Jobs on Magazine Covers page, a compilation of 85 covers from 1981-2010. In collaboration with Sam, we have created this list of The 10 Greatest Steve Jobs Magazine Covers of All Time. Feast your eyes on these beauties, and then head over to Kuo's page for the full, obsessive Steve Jobs experience.

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Cover of the Day, October 3, 2011

Covers 10.03.11 posted by The Editors

Welcome to The SPD Cover of the Day. We'll be posting our favorite covers every Monday and Wednesday. Stay tuned for the best and coolest magazine and newspaper covers, as selected by our stellar group of experts.

Open Skies, October 2011
Designer/illustrator: Mitch Blunt
Editor: Conor Purcell

Run, Sarah. Run!

Covers 09.01.11 posted by Josh Klenert

With the next GOP Debate set for September 7th, Momma Grizzly (and former Alaska governor) Sarah Palin is keeping everyone guessing about whether or not she's going to claw her way into the race for the Republican Presidential nomination. Former Bush "brain" Karl Rove says she is going to declare for the race on September 3rd at a Tea Party rally.

While we're still not sure what newspapers and magazines she reguarly reads, we here at SPD say "Run, Sarah, Run!" Every magazine cover that she appears on creates controversy, and whenever we post a Sarah Palin item on the SPD site, traffic goes through the roof. So we think it's in the best interests of art directors everywhere that Sarah Palin run for President (please note that we said "run," not "win.") There won't be nearly as much fun graphic appeal in covers featuring Mitt Romney or Rick Perry (let alone Jon Huntsman), although, so far Michele Bachmann is proving to have some seriously fun(ny) cover potential. And unfortunately no editor would let any of us near what makes Rick Santorum a great cover subject.

Here's a look back at some notable Palin magazine covers from the past three years.

--Josh Klenert & Robert Newman

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Newsweek's 'Diana at 50' Cover Stirs Up Controversy...

Controversy 06.29.11 posted by The Editors

...and isn't that what they hired Tina Brown for? The cover for this week's double issue features a photoshopped picture of Princess Diana, aged to imagine what she would have looked like, were she alive, at her upcoming 50th birthday, next to her daughter-in-law, Catherine Middleton. Photoshopping a cover isn't new to Newsweek, and a newsweekly, making news, sounds like a good plan, but this might not be the response they hoped for. The Atlantic Wire asks, "How creepy is Princess Diana's ghost on the cover of Newsweek?" and Fishbowl NY echoes the "creepy" tag, while New York Magazine's The Cut wonders if "reverse retouching" is about to become a thing. CJR thinks there must be a gas leak at the Newsweek office. The Los Angeles Times asks, "Shocking, brilliant or just plain cheap?"

What do YOU think?

Above: Newsweek, July 4 & 11, 2011; Creative Director, Dirk Barnett, Director of Photography, Scott Hall, Photography, R. Mutt Studios (Michael Elins)

Cover of the Day, June 22, 2011

Covers 06.22.11 posted by The Editors

Welcome to The SPD Cover of the Day. We'll be posting our favorite covers every Monday and Wednesday. Stay tuned for the best and coolest magazine and newspaper covers, as selected by our stellar group of experts.

PIN-UP, Issue 10, spring/summer 2011
Creative Director: Felix Burrichter
Design Director: Dylan Fracareta
Photographers: Derek Galon and Margret Gajek

Cover of the Day, June 10, 2011

Covers 06.09.11 posted by The Editors

Welcome to The SPD Cover of the Day. We'll be posting our favorite covers every Monday and Wednesday. Stay tuned for the best and coolest magazine and newspaper covers, as selected by our stellar group of experts.

U+Me, June 3, 2011
Creative Directors: Nancy Campbell and Trevett McCandliss
Director of Photography: Laurie Kratochvil
Photograph: Dreamstime

Dead Osama bin Laden Magazine Covers

Covers 05.05.11 posted by Robert Newman

There's nothing we enjoy more than these new Dead Osama bin Laden magazine covers. If you attended the SPD Speakeasy with former Time art director Arthur Hochstein, you know that the Time cover, illustrated by Tim O'Brien, has been ready since 2002. We think it's aged well, and we like the boldness, immediacy and artfulness of all the covers in this collection.

We'll be posting new covers as they appear. Please send us any that we've missed.

(Above): The New Yorker, illustrator: Gurbuz Dogan Eksioglu.

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EW Covers "Harry Potter"

Covers 04.14.11 posted by Josh Klenert

Probably covered more that vampires, superheroes and Julia Roberts--the Harry Potter saga has been covered quite a bit by Entertainment Weekly over the last 11 years. Here's a look back.

Above: Entertainment Weekly, featuring Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter.

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Cover of the Day, April 13, 2011

Covers 04.13.11 posted by The Editors

Welcome to The SPD Cover of the Day. We'll be posting our favorite covers every Monday and Wednesday. Stay tuned for the best and coolest magazine and newspaper covers, as selected by our stellar group of experts.

Il Sole 24 Ore, April 10, 2011
Creative Direction: Luca Pitoni, Adriano Attus
Illustration: Adriano Attus

Sun, Sans and Serifs: Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue 2011

Covers 02.14.11 posted by Neil Jamieson

Fed up with the gloom of a seemingly endless winter, ready for a blast of sun, sand and serifs (heck this is a design blog after all!)...well this should blow the cobwebs off! Today sees the US release of the 2011 Sport Illustrated Swimsuit Issue....the most successful magazine franchise on earth! We checked in with Creative Director Chris Hercik to see if he could spare some time in his hectic launch schedule to show us some pages and give us some insight into what it takes to put this thing together.

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Vanity Fair: The 2011 Hollywood Issue

Covers 02.01.11 posted by Josh Klenert

Vanity Fair just debuted this year's Hollywood Issue cover. This year's cover was photographed by Norman Jean Roy and features 14 glam party people plus Robert Duvall tending bar. Check out the behind the scene's video at the cover shoot after the jump.

From left: Ryan Reynolds, Jake Gyllenhaal, Anne Hathaway, James Franco, Jennifer Lawrence, Anthony Mackie, Olivia Wilde, Jesse Eisenberg, Mila Kunis, Robert Duvall, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Andrew Garfield, Rashida Jones, Garrett Hedlund, and Noomi Rapace.

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Intermediair: Weekly Magazine Covers from Holland

Covers 11.19.10 posted by Robert Newman

Intermediair is a weekly Dutch magazine, based in Amsterdam, art directed by Jaap Biemans. It has a circulation of 200,000, most of it free, mainly to recent Dutch university graduates. Much of the magazine's focus is on finding jobs (according to Biemans, 95% of the ads are job listings), the economy and the mix of work and life.

Biemans has been the art director since 2004. He is also the art director of the Dutch monthly Hollands Diep, and is the creative force behind Coverjunkie.com, a website with an amazing collection of contemporary and archival magazine covers.

Thanks to Ron Reason, whose blog has a good interview with Biemans along with many great Intermediair covers.

(Above): February 11, 2010. Cover story: "Fuck the passion, choose with your head instead of your heart."
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Our Favorite Halloween Covers from The New Yorker

Covers 10.29.10 posted by Robert Newman

We love The New Yorker's annual Halloween covers. From Hitler as a flying witch in the 1940s to post-9/11 city kids trick or treating as firefighters and police, the covers have been funny, pointed, scary, and always beautiful. We collected 19 of our favorites to get you ready for your neighborhood ghouls and goblins.

(Above): November 1, 2010, illustration by Ivan Brunetti.

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Zeit Magazin's 40th Anniversary Issue

Covers 10.22.10 posted by Robert Newman

German Zeit Magazin celebrated its 40th anniversary issue with 40 covers featuring model Claudia Schiffer, photographed by Frederike Helwig. You can see all 40 covers here and here.

Six Entertainment Weekly James Bond Covers

Covers 10.04.10 posted by Robert Newman

Here's a bonus set of covers for our year-long celebration of the 20th anniversary of Entertainment Weekly. For the August 18, 2006 issue of the magazine, there were six consecutive cover pages. It was part of a big ad buy that extended through a number of magazines during that time (Esquire and Fortune also produced six-cover issues). The team at Entertainment Weekly decided to produce six James Bond movie covers, tied to the actual cover which featured Daniel Craig as the newest Bond. Design director Geraldine Hessler created five vintage covers of EW, each featuring a different James Bond, and each designed to look like it was published in the era of its respective cover subject.

(Inset cover): George Lazenby as James Bond, from the December 18, 1969 issue of Entertainment Weekly.
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It's only rock and roll...

Covers 09.24.10 posted by Catherine Talese

Whether New York Magazine's Facebook cover was inspired by The Rolling Stones album art from "Black and Blue" or not, the parallels are there.

Like Facebook's call to connectivity, the Rolling Stones' 1975 recording sessions was a social networking scene of guitarists trying to fill the void after Mick Taylor had mysteriously de-friended the band. Billy Preston, Harvey Mandel, Wayne Perkins, and it's said maybe even Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton played on this eclectic record, a mash-up of styles with a groovy groove but no defined direction.

It's only Facebook but I like it.

[New York Magazine photographed by Jeff Minton; The Rolling Stones photographed by Hiro, album designed by Bea Feitler.]
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Jimi Hendrix Covers

Covers 09.15.10 posted by Robert Newman

September 18 marks the 40th anniversary of the death of rock guitarist supreme Jimi Hendrix, who passed away at the age of 27. He was only on a handful of Rolling Stone covers before his death, but since then countless music magazine covers have featured his iconic image. We love just about any Hendrix cover; here are some of our favorites.

Worth Magazine's Illustrated Covers

Covers 09.07.10 posted by Robert Newman

For the past year, Worth magazine design director Dean Sebring and illustrator Brian Stauffer have collaborated on a stunning series of illustrated covers. The magazine won a gold medal for redesign at this year's SPD Gala, and for good reason. Sebring has given the interior a major overhaul that is by turns smart, elegant, classic, and highly engaging. But it's the covers, illustrated by Stauffer, that are the signature look of the magazine, "the product of a partnering of design and illustration," as he puts it.

Sebring and Stauffer are both former art directors of alt weekly newspaper Miami New Times, where they met when Brian started doing illustrations for Dean. Their ongoing work at Worth, which Stauffer describes as "organic, collaborative, and experimental," are as close as anyone can get these days to the classic Fortune illustrated covers of the 1930s-50s.
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Celebrate Labor Day with Time Labor Leader Covers

Covers 09.03.10 posted by Robert Newman

Monday, September 6 is Labor Day, and what better way to celebrate than to look at some classic Time magazine covers of labor leaders! It was a different time in America when just the last name of these labor titans: Hoffa, Reuther, Lewis, would strike fear into the hearts of big capitalists everywhere. Here are six classic Time covers to warm the hearts and souls or working men and women.

Above: Cesar Chavez, president of the United Farm Workers Union, July 4, 1969. Illustration by Manuel Gregorio Acosta.

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TENNIS Magazine Covers the Open

Covers 09.02.10 posted by The Editors

Tennis Design Director Gary Stewart helps us get amped for this year's US Open with more great work...

I'm sure that those amazing New York Times videos have already inspired everyone to hop the 7 train to Queens, but first let's pause for some historical perspective, shall we? Here's a quick look back at five decades of U.S. Open TENNIS covers.

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The First Mother Jones Cover, Illustrated by Dugald Stermer

Covers 09.01.10 posted by Robert Newman

In a recent interview on the SPD site, Mother Jones creative director Tim J Luddy referenced the first cover of the magazine, in 1976, as an influence on his current work. We asked Luddy for a copy of that cover, illustrated by Dugald Stermer, and he responded with that one and two more from Mother Jones's first year of publishing. Here's what Luddy has to say about them:

Tim J Luddy: Dugald Stermer, who was listed as a consultant on the Mother Jones masthead through the August 1976 issue of the magazine, illustrated three of our covers that year. The February/March 1976 issue, our first, featured a racially-integrated version of the Archibald M. Willard painting, "Spirit of '76." He got all Renaissance on us for our "June MCMLXXVI" issue, for a story on "The New Conservatives." This cover was based on a portrait of Count Tommaso Inghirami by Raphael. And to illustrate our July 1976 story, which was critical of Jerry Brown's new politics, Stermer painted a portrait of Brown on canvas and slashed open its center, revealing a portrait of Dwight D. Eisenhower behind it. The styles of these three covers, and even the signatures on each one, show a remarkable stylistic range. Regarding that, Stermer says, "Obviously I was still trying to find myself as an illustrator, after long careers as a graphic designer and magazine editor/art director." Mother Jones's art director at this time was Louise Kollenbaum.

Read 3 Questions with Tim J. Luddy of Mother Jones here.

ASME announces best magazine cover contest finalists!

Covers 08.26.10 posted by Robert Newman

The American Society of Magazine Editors (ASME) has announced the finalists for the annual 2010 Best Magazine Cover contest. There are six finalists in 12 categories. Winners will be selected by voters on Amazon.com; voting begins September 1, so be sure to vote for your favorites! Congratulations to all the finalists.

Pictured above are four groups of finalists. Row 1: Sexiest; Row 2: Entertainment and Celebrity; Row 3: Fashion and Beauty; Row 4: House and Home.

Cool Nerds Go Negative

Covers 08.25.10 posted by Jeremy LaCroix

Wired and Scientific American must have called each other up before class this month!

I thought this was too random to pass up. I realize many genres of magazine verticals share similar cover strategies however these two popular titles, while they do share some DNA do not generally have anything close to the same cover idea dropping on the same month.
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Arthur Hochstein's 15 Favorite Time Magazine Covers

Covers 08.12.10 posted by Robert Newman

Arthur Hochstein was the art director of Time magazine from 1994 to the end of 2009. He created over 1000 covers during that time, including some he did as deputy to Rudy Hoglund before 1994. Hochstein created what I consider the greatest contemporary body of cover design at any one magazine over the past 15 years. Hochstein's Time covers are by turns momentous, funny, pointed, provocative, intelligent, and highly creative. They feature the top photographers (and occasionally illustrators) in the business, along with Hochstein's own considerable creative Photoshop work. To my mind this is as close as contemporary American cover design will get to the legendary work of George Lois at Esquire in the 60s and 70s.

Hochstein's Time covers skewed to the homemade, self-created. An early adapter to Photoshop, he created many of the images himself with stock and archival photography and found images (he used the same globe of the world from his office for at least six covers!). There's a sense of creativity, fun, excitement, passion, and ingenuity that is lacking from many of today's highly-scripted and tested magazine covers. I can remember sitting in Hochstein's Time office one afternoon a few years ago and watching him work on a cover on two computer screens, with a mouse in each hand, gleefully manipulating and changing the image. This is a person who loves the process of visual creation, and it comes through in the printed covers. Hochstein's bespoke imagery is reminiscent of much of the work currently appearing on the covers of alternative newsweeklies like The Dallas Observer, Riverfront Times, Miami New Times, and Westword, although with a much greater budget and resources.

While we await the inevitable book collection of his work, here is Arthur Hochstein on his favorite covers and how they came together. This is a great inside look at the sausage-making process of creating covers at the largest American newsweekly.

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Runner's World Goes to the Dogs

Covers 08.09.10 posted by The Editors

September issues aren't only big for the fashion bibles, but the fitness books as well. Kory Kennedy, DD for Runner's World, sends along a cover shot better suited for a gatefold and this note:

At Runner's World we love runners of all shapes, sizes, and species.

See the full cover after the jump...
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Covering Google

Covers 08.05.10 posted by Josh Klenert

Fortune magazine hits newsstands and debuts on the iPad with a bold question: Is Google Over? If so, what a wild ride its been since Stanford computer science grad students Larry Page and Sergey Brin began collaborating on a search engine in 1996.

Here's a look back at a collection of magazine covers featuring Google--most playing off Ruth Kedar's colorful logo. How different these covers would have been, had they gone with their original proposed name: BackRub.

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Collected Cover "Inspiration"

Covers 08.05.10 posted by Robert Newman

Illustrator Brian Taylor has put together a blog dedicated to documenting magazine cover "inspiration," i.e., covers that look alike. It's called Doppelganger Design, and it includes some of the ones that we've been posting here at SPD the past couple weeks, and a lot more. Head over to his site immediately for much cover ripoff(?) fun.

Above: The New York Times T magazine and the cover from Coast that it "inspired."

Related stories:

Another "Inspiration?" Cover New York / St. Louis

More "Inspired" Covers Esquire / Wizard / Texas Monthly

Sports Illustrated "Appreciates" a TIME cover

Homage, Inspiration, or ... TIME / The Village Voice

Rolling Stone: Deja Vu? Friends / Glee

Inspiration, or... New York / Seattle

More Inspiration ... Billboard / Mediaweek

Eat Cheap Eats New York / Time Out New York

More "inspired" covers

Covers 07.28.10 posted by Robert Newman

We're taking a break from the Ready-Made controversy to present a couple more "inspired" cover designs, courtesy of Benjamen Purvis of Seattle Met magazine. On the left is Esquire, from December 2006. On the right, the August 2010 cover of Wizard magazine. After the jump, another pair of "inspired" covers.

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NY Mag's Eat Cheap 2010: Splitsville

Covers 07.12.10 posted by The Editors

Time for another 2 covers to duke it out in the name of discount dining--this time, though, New York Magazine's competing against itself. Design Director Chris Dixon says,

We did 2 radically different covers for our Eat Cheap issue this year, out today. We loved both covers, so we did a split run. One is type, one image, so everyone in the office is happy!

Which one will you pick up?

Above, left: photography by Hannah Whitaker; right, typography by Chris Dixon, illustration by Gillian MacLeod.

Everywhere Else It's Called FOOTBALL...

Covers 07.08.10 posted by Neil Jamieson

Oh the joys of being a magazine art director during the summer months! Smaller issues, a less competitive dress code and editors who are so desperate to head to the beach for the weekend that the decisions just make themselves... Okay who am I kidding, I'm sure everyone is just as swamped as ever with vacation coverage, special double issues and of course iPad development. As a result there is a (VERY) slim chance that you where one of the few people who wasn't able to sneak out to the pub over the last 26 days and have missed what has been unfolding at the biggest sporting event on the planet down in South Africa: The World Cup. … MORE

Shoot This Magazine!

Covers 07.04.10 posted by Neil Jamieson

Enough with the iPad for 2 minutes, Field & Stream create a different type of interactive magazine experience for its readers. With their July 2010 "Gun Nut" special, readers of the hunting and fishing monthly are encouraged not only buy... but to SHOOT their issue! … MORE

Inspiration, or.....???

Covers 06.30.10 posted by Robert Newman

On the left, New York magazine's BEST DOCTORS cover, 2003. On the right, Seattle magazine's TOP DOCS cover, July 2010. Notice the "Take a break!" signature on both casts.

Related story:

Rolling Stone: Deja Vu? Friends / Glee

More Inspiration ... Billboard / Mediaweek

Homage, Inspiration, or ... TIME / The Village Voice

Sports Illustrated "Appreciates" a TIME cover

Obama Reqested Signed Copy of New Yorker Cover

Covers 06.27.10 posted by Josh Klenert

David Remnick, editor of The New Yorker, is reporting that the White House asked for a signed copy of the February 1, 2010 cover showing a Barry Blitt illustration of President Obama walking on water--and then falling in.

There was no mention of a request for a signed copy of Blitt's "other" Obama cover.

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It's Beach Season!

Covers 06.18.10 posted by Josh Klenert

Time to hit the beach or the gym? Enjoy the weekend!

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Jaime Hernandez Village Voice cover

Covers 04.22.10 posted by Linda Rubes

New Village Voice art director John Dixon scores bigtime with cover art by noted Love and Rockets graphic novelist Jaime Hernandez, who was in town last week signing copies of his coffee-table book The Art of Jaime Hernandez: The Secrets of Life and Death at the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art Festival. Read the interview with Hernandez here, and get a free copy for your collection from one of the many kiosks around the city.

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The 2010 Fortune 500 Cover

Covers 04.15.10 posted by Robert Newman

The new issue of the Fortune 500 hits the streets on Friday, April 16. Art directed by John Korpics, it features a sparkling cover by illustrator Daniel Pelavin. We love the retro feel of this one. Pelavin's hand-drawn letterforms harken back to the great Fortune 500 covers of the 50s and 60s. Pelavin has a great behind-the-scenes how-I-did-it explanation of the cover up on his Drawger blogsite. There are lots of cool sketches, and a nifty series of iterations of the 5 showing how it evolved from looking too much like an S.

You can see the complete run of Fortune 500 covers from 1956-present here, with brilliant designs by Leo Lionni, Walter Allner, and more.

Related stories:
The Fortune 500 Cover Legacy
New Look for Fortune
Nai Lee Lum's Fortune International Covers

This entry was authored by Linda Rubes.

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Hot Rod magazine: The cover archive

Covers 04.07.10 posted by Robert Newman

Someday all magazines will have easily accessible cover archives for art directors to luxuriate in, archives where the covers are organized, well-displayed, and available for easy downloading. We recommend the Hot Rod magazine cover archive as a model for people to follow. It's simple, easy, and complete. In addition to the full archive, 1948-present, Hot Rod has a poll for readers to select their favorite covers, and even a cover that was lost at the printer and never made it to the newsstand. Great logos, cool cars, powerful engines, sweaty headlines...'nuff said!

Rolling Stone: Deja vu?

Covers 04.02.10 posted by Josh Klenert

Just me?

Rolling Stone, April 15, 2010; featuring the cast of Glee;

photograph by Mark Seliger.

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Great (Mostly) White Covers

Covers 03.31.10 posted by Josh Klenert

This week's Time Out New York cover, inspired a look back at strong covers that used very little ink.
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Covering the iPad

Covers 03.26.10 posted by Josh Klenert

With April 3rd right around the corner, the iPad is getting the cover treatment. Here's a round up of recent iPad-centric covers from Macworld and WIRED. More TK as they hit the newsstands.… MORE

Face-Off: Tina Fey Covers

Covers 03.18.10 posted by Josh Klenert

Entertainment Weekly and Esquire hit newsstands this week with dueling Tina Fey covers. Which works best?

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Mark Burckhardt on the making-of his Texas Monthly cover

Covers 03.17.10 posted by The Editors

Over on Drawger there's an excellent behind-the-scenes look at this month's Texas Monthly cover (shown here) marking the 15th anniversary of Tejano singer Selena's tragic death. Illustrator Marc Burckhardt walks through the process from commission to drafts to completed cover (including subscriber versions without a UPC code--go TJ Tucker, Creative Director). Definitely worth the detour to Drawger this afternoon.

The greatest Oscar-winners magazine covers

Covers 03.06.10 posted by Robert Newman

In honor of the 82nd annual Academy Awards ceremony on Sunday, March 7, we've collected the greatest Oscar-winners magazine covers. We've got a small collection here at SPD, and you can see even more on this Facebook page. If you've got some Oscar-winner covers you designed or that you think we should see and add to our list, please sent them along.

This post was co-produced by Linda Rubes.

(Above): Isaac Hayes, Jet, May 4, 1972. Hayes won his Oscar for Best Original Song for the Theme from Shaft, from the movie Shaft. (1971).

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10 for 10

Covers 03.01.10 posted by The Editors

North Carolina native Criswell Lappin is celebrating his â€¨10th year as the Creative Director of Metropolis. In that time he has created some of the most beautiful and memorable covers in the industry. The highlight, he says, has been the collaborations he's enjoyed with likes of George Lois, John Fulbrook and more recently with Post Typography in the magazine's redesigned issue, "What's Next."

Making it ten years at a single publication is almost as accomplished as some of the great work that he has produced in that time. We've selected a few of our favorites covers and noted the name of the design collaborator when applicable: … MORE

Magazine covers: Does sameness sell?

Covers 02.26.10 posted by Robert Newman

Newspaper design guru Mario Garcia asks that question in his latest post for the Garcia Media blog. Why do so many magazine covers look the same? Why do they all use the same crop and style of photography, and why so many cover lines and tiny chip shots? Garcia has noticed this trend around the world (the above newsstand photo is from Buenos Aires). He talks with longtime magazine designer Robert Newman (that's me!) and weighs in with his own thoughts.

It's a good discussion. A couple key quotes:

Newman: "The sameness of cover design is a direct result of cover testing."

Garcia: "People want more items on the cover, more of the cover as navigator." (This will not make a lot of art directors happy).

The Mario Blog is updated daily with great insights and comments on newspaper design and publication design in general. It's one of the first things I read every morning and I always take away a lot of learning and smartness.

Related Stories:

Creatives Under Siege

Time Magazine's 2009 Top 10 Cover List

ASME Best Covers of the Year

A Wise Latina and the Color Red: Latina's Justice Sotomayor Cover

Covers 12.21.09 posted by Florian Bachleda

In 2009, Justice Sonia Sotomayor became an instant inspiration to Latinas in the United States.

She lost her father when she was 9, battled diabetes, and was raised by her mother in a public housing project. She eventually graduated with honors at Princeton University, received her J.D. from Yale Law School and embarked on a distinguished legal and judicial career. By the time she was nominated for the Supreme Court, Sotomayor had more federal judicial experience than any potential justice in 100 years, and more overall judicial experience than anyone confirmed to the court in the past 70 years. And that's the short story.

Here at Latina, we were honored to be granted the first photoshoot with the new justice in September. We all felt there was only one person for this assignment, and that was Platon, who graciously accepted. The story from the shoot after the jump... … MORE

Upside Down Covers

Covers 12.13.09 posted by Robert Newman

Last month on SPD we posted an article about magazine covers that flip their logos upside down. Now two recent newsweekly covers have us thinking about upside down images. The cover on the left is from the November 16, 2009 issue of BusinessWeek, illustrated by Mirko Ilic and art directed by Andrew Horton. The cover on the right is from the December 7, 2009 issue of Newsweek. We know how great minds think alike (or at least these things come in threes, which would make it a trend....). If you've got a recent cover that fits this format, please send it along to SPD Central.

UPDATE! (December 30): We've got another upside down cover on the next page.

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Minneapolis altweekly paper City Pages goes ROGUE on their latest cover

Covers 11.19.09 posted by Robert Newman

Alternative newsweekly City Pages has broken new ground with their latest cover: there's no logo!! The current issue (pictured left) features a parody of the new Sarah Palin Going Rogue book, with local Minnesota congresswoman (and professional nutjob) Michelle Bachmann on the cover. In order to pull off the complete homage/parody of the book cover, the folks at City Pages decided to forgo their regular formatted cover and lose their logo entirely. We've all thought about doing this at some time or other, but City Pages art director Nick Vicek and editor Kevin Hoffman have actually done it. Everything about this cover is brilliant, from the concept to the way it ties in with the exceptional story inside. SPD talked with Vicek and Hoffman to get the behind-the-scenes info on how this memorable cover came about.… MORE

Time magazine's 2009 Top 10 Magazine Cover list

Covers 11.02.09 posted by Arthur Hochstein

Each year I write a piece for Time magazine (and Time.com) for its annual "Top 10 of Everything" feature. My contribution is a list of the 10 best magazine covers of the year. Last year's top cover was from the New Yorker (pictured to the left). To see the complete 2008 list, visit the site here.

Along with each choice, I write a little back story about the creation of the cover that I hope sheds some light on how the smart folks in our business achieve such high-quality results. (This year the "Top 10 of Everything" will run on Time.com only).

In the past I've done my own research for this story, but I've always felt that I may have been leaving something deserving out of the mix. So this year I'd like to recruit you magazine junkies and lovers to help me out by offering your own suggestions.

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Wired + Wallpaper =

Covers 10.22.09 posted by Jeremy LaCroix

I swear... I did not stage this!

Random Placement?

Or is someone at Farley's messing with our minds?

View another funny random cover collaboration.

Photo: Jeremy LaCroix

Update:

Check out Chris Dixon's Mash-up of the original, I sense a trend here!

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Andrew Horton's BusinessWeek covers

Covers 10.17.09 posted by Robert Newman

Andrew Horton has been the art director of BusinessWeek since January 2007. In late 2007 he worked with the Modernista folks to redesign the magazine and give it a sleeker, more "modern" look. Since then his BusinessWeek covers have consistently been among the smartest and most creative in the business. They're simple, intelligent, direct, and clever. In the tradition of Time magazine AD Arthur Hochstein, many of the covers are totally created and executed by Horton himself. And when he uses photographers and illustrators, they're topnotch. We salute his ingenuity, resourcefulness, and creativity with a beautiful collection of 10 great BusinessWeek covers.

After you've seen these contemporary covers, visit this website for a gallery of knockout BusinessWeek covers from 1929-2009, collected by Andrew Horton and his colleagues Steven Taylor and Ron Plyman.

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ASME Best Covers of the Year

Covers 10.14.09 posted by Robert Newman

The American Society of Magazine Editors (ASME) has announced the winners of its 2009 Best Covers of the Year competition. Rolling Stone's July 10, 2008 cover of Barack Obama, photographed by Peter Yang (and art directed by Joseph Hutchinson), won the Cover of the Year award, as well as Best Obama cover.

Other winners include:

* Most Delicious Cover: Bon Appetit

* Best in Celebrity & Entertainment: Vanity Fair

* Best in Fashion & Beauty: Harper's Bazaar

* Best in House & Home: Veranda

* Best in Lifestyle: Conde Nast Traveler

* Best in News & Business: New York

* Sexiest: Elle

* Best in Sports & Fitness: Sports Illustrated

* Best in Science, Technology & Nature: Audubon

There were five nominees in each category, selected by a panel of ASME judges. The winners were voted by visitors to the Amazon.com website. For a full view of winners and nominees, visit the ASME website.

Magazine Covers that Reference Magazine Covers

Covers 10.10.09 posted by Robert Newman

The latest issue of the UK edition of Esquire features actor/comedian Ricky Gervais shot with arrows. It's a visual reference to the famous Muhammad Ali April 1966 Esquire cover, art directed by George Lois. And that cover is, of course, a clever visual nod to the famous paintings of St. Sebastian. Our pal Jeremy Leslie at Magculture.com suggests it's time to give that particular homage a well-deserved rest. We agree; but all this homage-ing got us thinking about other magazine covers that have referenced magazine covers. So here's a brief recent history. Our rule here is that the covers had to be a direct reference to another magazine cover; we're saving record album, posters, etc. for a future post. We know there are a lot more of these out there, so please send us your favorites. -- [post by Josh Klenert and Robert Newman]

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Mirrored Covers

Covers 09.30.09 posted by Robert Newman

This week's BusinessWeek cover is a classic design by art director Andrew Horton and illustrator Christoph Niemann, using the right-side-up/upside down approach. That got us thinking about other magazines that have designed covers in this format. Here are four more classics of the genre, covers from Fortune, Time, and Mad. … MORE

Best PC Upgrades? OSX

Covers 09.24.09 posted by Josh Klenert

Proving that you can design the best cover possible, but you just can't guarantee where it will show up on the newsstand.

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Best Covers: Judge for Yourself!

Covers 09.22.09 posted by The Editors

ASME's annual Best Covers competition has come around again, and this time we're all invited to assert our opinions--and if ever there's a group more suited to weigh-in here, it's SPD...
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Guest Creative Directors: They're Everywhere!

Covers 09.09.09 posted by The Editors

The Guardian reports that Karl Lagerfeld and Philippe Starck have each designed covers for the latest issue Wallpaper* -- and will be guest editing the October issue.

Lagerfeld has designed a "peelable" cover for the monthly title, which features model Baptiste Giabiconi, dressed in Dior Homme. Lagerfeld has shot several ad campaigns for Dior. Readers can peel back this image to reveal another cover, which shows the model naked.

Starck, best known for designing high-end hotels, including the St Martin's Lane hotel in London and the Delano in Miami, has constructed a transparent front cover using three layers of tracing paper. Vodka brand Absolut has produced a specially made advertisement for the issue, which promotes its "Rock edition" bottle.

Wallpaper* claims the paper technologies used by the design duo have never before been used on magazine covers.

Lagerfeld is also one of three guest editors (along with Bruce Weber and Peter Lindbergh) for German Vogue's 30th anniversary edition next month, per WWD. If you could guest creative-direct or edit any title, what would it be?

Wallpaper* images courtesy of IPC Media via The Guardian.

Eat Cheap Eats

Covers 07.21.09 posted by Josh Klenert

Two New York low cost food covers hit newsstands on the same week. Which works best?… MORE

Send us your MJ Covers

Covers 07.02.09 posted by Josh Klenert

Have you designed a Michael Jackson in your past? Created one recently? Send us a JPG (5" tall, 72 dpi) to tips@spd.org. We're making a gallery, and starting off with our first submission here, from Bizz. More, from Rolling Stone, after the jump...
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The Newsweek Redesign: Hit or Miss?

Redesigns 06.15.09 posted by Josh Klenert

We all know what the process is like to get out a massive redesign. The meetings... The designs... Presentations... Focus groups... More designs... Launch.

Well, it has been four issues for the Newsweek redesign by Number 17--a good number of issues to get your sea-legs.

What do you think?

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The New Yorker Meets the iPhone

Covers 05.26.09 posted by The Editors

In a twist on the debate about bringing magazines into the digital world, The New Yorker features a cover this week from Jorge Colombo created entirely on the artist's iPhone with the brushes app. More background over at The New Yorker's site, and step-by-step video of the cover's creation after the jump... … MORE

Those Krazy Kids at Esquire...

Covers 03.31.09 posted by The Editors

Are at it again. Video after the jump. … MORE

Noted Without Comment

Covers 12.06.08 posted by The Editors

Via Gawker.

Best Book Covers of 2008

Covers 12.01.08 posted by Scott Dadich

Joseph Sullivan over at the Book Design Review has a great post up today featuring some of the best book cover design of 2008. Friends of the Society factor prominently in said list, including jackets by Paul Sahre, Barbara de Wilde, and The Heads of State. Vote for your favorites at the bottom of the post.

Famous People Get Hangnails Too!

Celebrity 12.01.08 posted by George Karabotsos

Honestly, famous people don't excite me much.

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Nothing But a Ballpoint Pen

Design 09.13.08 posted by Geraldine Hessler

For the September issue of Los Angeles, art director Joe Kimberling collaborated with illustrator and type designer Marian Bantjes to create the cover. The solution, done solely with a blue ballpoint pen, is a notebook covered with doodles inspired by a creative, yet distracted high school student. As Marian says on the contributors page "I did everything but the bar code". Check out more of her amazing work here.

Nothing Like the First Time

Archives 09.12.08 posted by Paul Schrynemakers

The Premiere Issues Project is a site dedicated to magazine covers of first issues. Click on a cover and get stats like name, dimensions, publisher and -- most importantly -- art direction and design.

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Dwell Redesign Interview with Kyle Blue

Redesigns 08.15.08 posted by Paul Schrynemakers

This week Chad Kloepfer from the Walker Art Center published an interview with Dwell Design Director Kyle Blue on their design blog. Chad talks with Kyle about the guiding principles, rejected covers, font choices and more that went into the current magazine.

A good Friday afternoon read.

Black Power!

Covers 08.13.08 posted by Scott Dadich

My Saturday evening typically consists of the following: A late workout, maybe a swing by the Whole Foods, an errand or two, and then a quick jaunt by my corner deli for a hot-off-the-press copy of Sunday's New York Times. (Must. See. New. Magazine.) Yes, I need a life, but hey, Rem Duplessis and his gang always manage to inspire and impress; this past weekend was no different.
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Designer's Block

Covers 08.12.08 posted by Nathalie Kirsheh

We know visual stimulant is all around us but, when I have designer's block I sometimes need immediate optical motivation for concepts/type treatment. When there's no time to run out to the book store or my fav eccentric magazine stand, I turn to the wondrous world wide web.
So when I'm often asked "where do you get your quick inspiration from online?," one particular design studio's site that comes to mind is www.fwis.com. Not only is their gallery chock full of motivational imagery, but they also feature a blog called "Covers."

Book cover art is featured and updated several times a week and open for commenting. I like to think of it as a virtual wall meeting where random viewers can critique the art director's motive. Check it out, and let me know about your own favorite "quick fix."

Blitt Storm

Covers 07.21.08 posted by Michael Grossman

When the controversy erupted over The New Yorker's now-infamous cover "The Politics of Fear" last week (showing a fear-monger's vision of a post-inaugural Barack and Michelle Obama in the Oval Office), perhaps your first thoughts were not of the effect on the campaign, but of cover artist and colleague Barry Blitt, a brilliantly nuanced illustrator/writer who was suddenly thrust into the limelight, and skewered by many as some ham-handed Obama basher.… MORE

I Didn't Even Realize the Feast of St. Sebastian Was Coming Up...

Covers 07.11.08 posted by Emily Smith

but it must be, with all these martyr-homages going on.

Many thanks to Jeremy Leslie at magCulture for his rapid vigilance on this. Two covers posted with the same idea, on one day. Hmm.
… MORE

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