'Magnificent Magforum' - University of Westminster Journalism website

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Secrets of cover design 3:
some finishing touches
(part 1)

This page shows how magazine front covers have used the main elements of image and text in terms of:

Using the face
Power of words
Words and pictures
Someone else's idea
Evolution of a magazine cover: how Men Only changed over 40 years
Man About Town: how the title has been interpreted on three continents over 70 years

Using the face Back to top


Typical use of the face with boxed text on weekly Best	Glamour frames image with coverlines	*Full face on Bare* - most art editors prefer less of a close-up**

Upmarket film star allure for InStyle	Glamour's prison-shot look for Posh	Frank - unusual approach with a very high quality image

Tough look for football's FourFourTwo	Dreamy feel for ICI customer magazine	Jump - fun feel for teen girls in dummy issue

*Focus by Tom Wolsey on Edward Heath for Topic* (1962)**	*Classic 1960s Queen:* note cover lines**	Illustration is now rarely used on mainstream magazines

The power of words Back to top

Words shout it out for car buffs	Note graduated size of type for main coverline	Words are often key for special issues, as with Q (Aug 2004)

*Art deco masthead dominated Razzle's cover from 30s to 50s*	City Limits first issue (Oct 1981) in David King's constructivist style	Free contract title for Computerland by PR agency Fitzroy (Jan 1988)

For writers with their cheap wordprocessing on BBC Micros and Amstrad PCWs (Oct 1989)	Business used type to say it all (Mar 1990)	Wallpaper design awards issue (Feb 2006)

*Words dominate free ShortList* (2008) handed out at rail stations, an idea that didn't take off in 1986**	Sky last issue (July 2001): the word 'sex' sells magazines of all kinds	Subject 2001: 'The first rule of men's lifestyle magazines is ... you must have sex on the cover'

Words and pictures Back to top

Bystander 1916: colour covers at Christmas were a Victorian tradition	London Opinion used spot colour from the late 1920s (Nov 1927)	London Life, with covers of few words, varied its masthead each week (11 Mar 1933)

Woman's Own 1934. Note coverline: 'Gifts made from jam pots'	Bystander 1935: cover still devoted to adverts at society weekly	Woman's Own 1937: full colour on a weekly was a revolution

Wild West Weekly launched in 1938: the war was to set back UK magazines 20 years	Blighty 'Laughs its way to victory' each week (1944)	Lilliput in 1946: man, woman and dog cartoon by Trier dates back to 1937 launch

Vanity Fair (1950) big Nat Mags monthly until killed off by Cosmo	Blighty switched from humour to pin-ups (1959)	Woman's Realm 1959: cover looks like an advert

Honey (Apr 1960): main cover line, 'A girl's best accessory is a man', runs diagonally	Nova launch under editor Harry Fieldhouse (Mar 1965)	Mayfair 1966: Mars symbol and Raquel Welch in pink say it all

Flair from November 1967: all about angles	Queen (Nov 1968): note diagonal cover line	Harper's & Queen from April 1971

Cosmopolitan first issue March 1972: red stands out on the newsagent's shelves	Tatler & Bystander (Jan 1975) still with adverts - look dates back to 1935 and earlier!	*Editor Janet Street-Porter chose a flasher to front Time Out* spin-off (Apr 1975)**

Woman's World, July 1979. Left cover line: 'Exclusive. The agony of being Anna Raeburn'	*Nick Logan's The Face* first issue in May 1980**	*Masthead pun: i-D* makes its subjects, in this case Sade, wink (Feb 1984)**

Dummy for Capital, which was to be handed out at London rail stations (Jun 1986)	Educational Computing, (Oct 1987) for teachers coming to grips with computers	Riva (1988) upmarket weekly with contents panel

*Coverline 'How to spot a bullshitter' led to advertising for Excel* being banned (1988)**	*Price was vital to Mirabella* launch in September 1990**	*First issue of Cosmo* spin-off Zest (autumn 1994)**

Frank - first issue, October 1997 set out to be (too) different	Scene (Dec1998) under Deborah Bee was a visually bold title	Heat named 30 celebs who had 'done it' (June 1999)

Wallpaper spin-off Spruce borrowed parent's * (2001)	*IPC couldn't revive the 1960s Nova* brand (2001)**	Intersection (2001): a different angle on cars

Boxy look for Emap's celeb weekly Closer (28 Sep 2002)	Jack started with a pocket format but lacked firepower on the shelves (Jan 2003)	*Few cover lines for Vogue* (Dec 2003): only leading magazines can risk this**

Retro keeps it simple and says it all for games buffs (April 2003)	Rip & Burn seem to push Eminem off the cover (Nov 2004)	*The last Face* with Kelis & Andre 3000 (May 2004)**

Cut - bad cover, bad concept, sank without trace (Aug 2004)	Zoo - competing for flesh count with Nuts (Jan 2004)	Grazia with contents strip (February 2005)

Psychologies - for the thinking woman, from France (Oct 2005)	Good Housekeeping - cramming it all in (Nov 2005)	Prima (2006): UK's best-selling domestic women's monthly

Car: relaunches - briefly - with squarish cover (Sep 2006)	Woman's Own: how busy can a cover get? (2007)	Monocle - a Boy's Own Economist (Mar 2007)

*Stunning profile for Sublime* cover (Jan 2007)**	*Clashing cover lines for Kerrang!* (6 August 2008)**	Buck ( 2008): editor regretted not following left-third rule

Someone else's idea Back to top

*Cover by Peter Driben for US title Beauty Parade* (February 1949)**	Private Eye in the cover style it adopted in the 1960s (5 Sep 1997)	Myleene Klass does a Demi Moore (Aug 2007) for Glamour

'Young love' cover for Oz (issue 37, September 1971)	*David Sullivan's porn apologist Private View; editor Miss Doreen Millington (Mar 1974)*	*A pregnant Demi Moore on the cover of Vanity Fair* in 1981**

Arena shows David Bailey's 1965 image of Michael Caine (autumn 1988)	*Singer KD Lang being shaved by model Cindy Crawford for Vanity Fair* (Aug 1993)**	London Opinion sparked Kitchener's recruitment posters (5 Sep 1914)

Jude Law tries to mimic Michael Caine's Alfie for Arena (Nov 2004)	Model Jordan (Katie Price) and Peter Andre pose for Attitude (Sept 2004)	*Still being copied 94 years later (Economist, Sep 2008)*

Evolution of a magazine cover: Men Only Back to top

1935: launch issue of pocket format Men Only	1936: illustration on Men Only cover	1937: relaunch with full-page cartoon, setting 20-year pattern

1956: celebrating 21 years using celebs on cover	1957: film stars, in this case Diana Dors, dominate	1960: photographs of models have replaced illustrations

1963: last of the pocket format issues	*1965: images now dominate Men Only* covers**	*1971: first Men Only* under Paul Raymond**

Man About Town through the ages Back to top

*1939: Man About Town* launch issue in US**	*1955: Man About Town* in UK (spring issue)**	*1958: Man About Town* launched again in US**

*1962: Man About Town* becomes Town in UK**	*1968: Man About Town* launch issue in Australia**	*2007: Man About Town* rides again in UK**