the anatomy of magazine covers - nomad creatives · 2019. 7. 2. · history of magazine covers when...

THE ANATOMY OF MAGAZINE COVERSa brief history with a case study of Maxim Magazine

Anatomy of a Magazine Cover

Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles, generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three.

Magazines can be distributed through the mail; through sales by newsstands, bookstores or other vendors; or through free distribution at selected pick up locations.

History of Magazine Publications

The Gentleman's Magazine was founded in London, England, by Edward Cave in January, 1731. The original complete title was The Gentleman's Magazine: or, Trader's monthly intelligencer.*

Cave's innovation was to create a monthly digest of news and commentary on any topic the educated public might be interested in, from commodity prices to Latin poetry.*

*source:Wikipedia

History of Magazine Covers

When early magazines used covers, they tended to model them after the covers of books -- providing only a title and publication data.

There were no descriptive words indicating what would be found inside the magazine.*

The cover of the American Magazine of Useful and Entertaining Knowledge from 1835 shows a centered, formal balance and book-like layout, with a small illustration that appears to have a decorative purpose, rather than to illustrate the contents. *

*Journal of Magazine and New Media Research, 2002


Mother's Magazine of1844 is an example of a third kind of cover that was common in the first two centuries of magazines -- the symbolic cover.*

It uses a generic illustration in a symbolic manner to evoke the spirit of the publication, without revealing any of this issue's specific contents.*



Cover lines began to appear within such generic covers in the later 1800s. The popular Peterson's women's magazine of 1872 uses a completely generic cover richly decorated with the leafy symmetry of Victorian embellishments, with a lovely assemblage of drawings at the bottom symbolizing the various roles of woman in the family.*

But in this case, the generic has been infiltrated by the specific: The top of the magazine makes the modestly startling announcement of one of the topics to be found inside: "Now is the time to make up clubs." *


The Best Magazine Covers of All Time

# 36. People (15 Sept., 1997) Black-and-white photograph of Princess Diana on the cover of People. This number was devoted to the life of Diana, died in August 1997 in a car accident. Diana appeared on the cover of the magazine a record number of times - 52 times.


# 28. 2 LIFE (16 Apr, 1965) Black-and-white photograph on the war in Vietnam, which depicted black American military helicopter. The author photo - LIFE photographer Larry Burrows, which covered the events in Vietnam, starting in 1962. When this snapshot was taken, Burrows was accompanied by a helicopter during a military operation during which the pilot died, while other team members were injured. Larry Burrows died in 1971 in Laos.


# 22. George (October-November, 1995) On the cover of the first issue of the magazine "George" is depicted a super-model Cindy Crawford, dressed in costume of George Washington. The magazine was founded by John F. Kennedy Jr. and covered political events, news, culture and show business. In 1999, Kennedy was killed in a plane crash, which in March 2001, the magazine "George" has been closed.


# 19. Esquire (December 2000) Photo of smiling Bill Clinton appeared on the cover of Esquire in the last days of Clinton's tenure as President of the United States. In the picture, which resulted from an 8-minute session and the original purpose of which was caused by association with the monument of Abraham Lincoln, clearly has a sexual connotation, overlapping with the scandal involving Monica Lewinsky.


#18. ESPN the Magazine (29 Jun, 1998) A picture of Michael Jordan Chicago Bulls on a white background. In the magazine article, issued 2 weeks after Jordan became a sixth NBA champion, is discussed, when is Michael leaving the basketball. Michael Jordan played his last game, 16 April 2003.


# 12. TIME (8 April, 1966) On the cover - red letters on a black background "Is God dead?". It was the first time on the cover of TIME. Article numbers under the title "Towards a hidden God" ( 'Toward a Hidden God'), which favored well-known theologians of the time, led to a great public effect.


# 11. LIFE (30 Apr., 1965) 18-week embryo - photo by Swedish photographer Nilsson. This photo is part of the book Nilsson "Birth" ( 'A Child is Born'). The book is dispersed circulation of 8 million copies in the first four days after publication.


# 6. The New Yorker (24 Sept., 2001) The famous black cover of the magazine "The New Yorker", with barely noticeable two black rectangles, embody the tragedy of September 11. Antenna north tower splits the letter W in the logo magazine.


# 3. Esquire (April, 1968) Muhammad Ali, pierced by six arrows under the heading "Passion of Muhammad Ali", appeared on the cover of Esquire following the scandalous refusal of Ali to join the U.S. Army because of his religious beliefs. Because of that, Muhammad was later disqualified and deprived of his rank. On the cover Ali is presented as St. Sebastian, pierced by arrows for his religious beliefs.


# 2.Vanity Fair (August 1991) The shocking photography of naked Demi Moore in the last month of pregnancy after a noisy success of the film "Ghost" It is also the work of Annie Leibovitz.


# 1. Rolling Stone (22 Jan., 1981) First place was given to the cover of Rolling Stone magazine with a photo of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, made by a famous photographer - Annie Leibowitz. A few hours after this photo was taken, John Lennon was murdered - December 8, 1980.


Dirk Barnett

Dirk Barnett is a New York-based art director that specializes in editorial and corporate branding

He is also the Creative Director of Maxim magazine. Previously, he was the Creative Director for Blender magazine, Key, the New York Times Real Estate Magazine, Play, the New York Times Sports Magazine, Premiere magazine and Popular Science (which won a National Magazine Award for General Excellence in 2004).


01Logo - For this issue, the silver metallic in the Maxim logo worked well with the bright, sunny photo, while the minimal colours in the type helped to make the cover subject stand out.

02Secondary Coverline - Note the hierarchy placed in this cover (through sizing). The Swimsuit Bonus is a special section. The orientation was flushed to the left and then ragged right.


03Main Cover Line - Maxim, is drooled over by 18 to 34 - year-old male readers. The typeface that was chosen as a result is Blender Pro (for its chiseled corners and sleek masculinity).

04Use One Typeface - Don’t use multiple typefaces on a cover, it only confuses the customer when they are looking at the newsstand. This cover only uses a variety of fonts and weights of Blender Pro, creating a unified typographic approach.


05Contrast - Always give the cover subject’s coverline the biggest and boldest treatment, so that it has a unique separation from the other type around it.

04Use One Typeface - The scale hierarchy on a well-designed cover is photo first, logo second, and coverlines third. People pick up magazines because of the photo; it’s only when in their hands that they focus on the coverlines.


06Colour - Always ask yourself what colour will sit nicely with the photo, and keep it minimal. With a type colour palette of black, and one or two other colours, your cover will appear more unified and graphically strong. In this case, the magenta hue sat perfectly with the cover model’s pink / red bikini.

Contemporary Magazine Covers

the anatomy of magazine covers - nomad creatives · 2019. 7. 2. · history of magazine covers when...

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