As we approach the year’s half-way mark, we take a look back at some of its best mag covers.
The art of print design and magazine covers is more important than ever. With cutbacks, iPads, and the internet, it’s imperative that art directors, editors, and photographers get their magazine covers right.
Thankfully, celebrations such as the D&AD awards continue to support the art of magazine covers. And rightly so; just take a look at our pick of inspiring magazine covers and you could be surprised at the array of talent on offer.
01. London in Stereo
Having only started up back in 2013, the team at London in Stereo have gone from strength-to-strength. Offering gig listings, interviews and reviews to the people of London, this festival edition cover really caught our eye. Snapped by photographer Phil Sharp and designed by Dave Rowlinson, it’s certainly something to get excited about.
02. Little White Lies
Independent movie magazine Little White Lies know as much about film as they do about design. Producing a beautiful bi-monthly print magazine, the pages are always something to marvel at. This incredible illustrative cover was created by Studio Muti and has proven itself as one of their best covers ever.
03. Empire
Another movie magazine but with an entirely different cover design strategy. To celebrate the release of Godzilla, Empire created this massive limited edition homage to the world’s favourite lizard. Harking back to the traditional Japanese Godzilla offerings, this is a cover that is truly stunning.
04. The Guardian Weekend
We’re huge fans of artist Kyle Bean here at Creative Bloq, so when we spotted this magazine cover design for The Guardian Weekend, we were instantly in awe. His clever dipiction of the Edward Snowden controversy is perfectly and simply executed with his striking paper art. Definitely one of our favourite works from Bean.
05. Lucky Peach
Lucky Peach are always inventive with their cover designs; focusing on the food industry allows them to really play with their food without being told off by their parents. This incredible cover was art directed by Walter Green and showcases the publication’s ability to really bring a splash of colour to the shelves.
06. The Wire Magazine
The Wire magazine always produce a gorgeous, photographic cover design and this one featuring Yoshimi P-We is by far, one of our favourites. The subtle, summery colour palette teamed with a carefully selected font really makes this cover pop.
07. Computer Arts
The Computer Arts team have really been on their A-game this year when it comes to designing front covers, with highlights including this brilliant glow-in-the-dark offering and some stunning interactive covers for the digital editions. However we’ve selected this scratchcard-effect cover created by the ever-talented Andrew Gibbs that really made this issue stand out on the shelves as well as adding a piece of tactile fun.
Take a look at the video above which explains the process behind the cover design!
08. Printed Pages
As the printed magazine of It’s Nice That, it’s almost a certainty that the design of Printed Pages was always going to be beautiful. The cover design for their Spring issue is clever, fresh and eye-catching, with clever shadow work and colour matching making it a favourite.
09. Eye Magazine
As the international review of graphic design, Eye is a quarterly printed magazine about graphic design and visual culture so it’s no wonder that they put one of Britain’s most iconic logo designs on their front cover. Simple but packed full of inspiration, this is a bold cover design for all the right reasons.
10. Anorak
Priding themselves on being ‘The Happy Mag for Kids’, Anorak do so much more than that. Their overall design will have you grinning from ear to ear, with this illustrative offering only teasing what’s waiting for you inside the pages. We absolutely adore this cover design.
Article orignally appeared on www.creativebloq.com
Words: Sammy Maine