Recently in Appreciation Category

The Going Away Cover

We've all either made 'em or received 'em: The infamous "Going Away" cover. Here's a look at a great tradition in magazine publishing:… MORE

The Art of Political Caricature on Magazine Covers, 1960-76

If you're as stressed-out as we are from the current political campaign, here's an antidote. Julie Mihaly (Boom Underground) and myself (Newmanology) have collected a big set of images of 1960s-70s politicians, and are posting them daily on our Facebook and Tumblr pages. It's a rich collection of campaign goodies, including comic books, posters, buttons, photographs, and general fun political merchandise (Spiro Agnew mouthwash, JFK bubblegum cards, a Barry Goldwater coloring book). And of course, there are many brilliant vintage magazine covers, featuring illustrated portraits by a great selection of artists. We've collected some of our favorites here, with illustrated portraits by Paul Davis, Ben Shahn, David Levine, David Stone Martin, Andy Warhol, Norman Rockwell, and more.

(Above): Newsweek, November 12, 1973. Illustration of Richard Nixon by Robert V. Engle
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The New Republic Cover Retrospective, 2001-12

For the past 11 years, Joseph Heroun and Christine Car have been art directing and designing The New Republic. Working remotely from New York City and Boston (TNR has been based in Washington, DC), they redesigned the magazine twice, produced it on a weekly, and since 2007, a bi-weekly schedule, and created a series of powerful, provocative, and distinctive covers, featuring a remarkable line-up of illustrators.

The New Republic recently went through a change of ownership and a move to New York City, and with that they've hired Dirk Barnett as their first full-time, on-site art director. Heroun and Car will be working on The New Republic through the end of the year, while Dirk Barnett cooks up some coolness of his own behind the scenes. It seems like a good time to look back at the amazing body of work created over the past decade by Heroun and Car.

(Above): The New Republic, December 30, 2010. Illustration: Sean McCabe
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The 50th Anniversary of the First George Lois Esquire Cover

This month marks the 50th anniversary of the first cover that George Lois designed for Esquire, (October 1962), and Fast Company is making note of it in their new design issue and on their iPad app. This photograph of Lois holding his first Esquire cover, by Platon, appears exclusively in the October 2012 Fast Company iPad app issue. There are other great Lois portraits by Platon, and a conversation between the two on creativity and courage. And there's a brilliant video on the iPad app of Lois reciting the lyrics to Bob Dylan's "The Times They Are A-Changin.'"

Fast Company creative director Florian Bachleda has unearthed a classic story about that first Lois cover, and the Esquire publisher's worried response.


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The Centenarian Magazine Club

Popular Mechanics celebration of their 110th Anniversary, sparked an interested to see what other (still publishing) magazines that have joined the centenarian club. Here's a look...… MORE

The Guardian's G2 Section Covers

G2 is the daily (Monday-Friday) features section of the Guardian newspaper, based in London. It was the launching pad for Richard Turley, now the creative director at Bloomberg Businessweek. His successor, Joanna Cochrane, has been continuing the marvelous graphic tradition of the section's covers. Most of their covers are done in a day, on a limited budget, and are brilliant visual solutions, smart, funny, engaging, and graphic. Cochrane is an art department of one, and creates a lot of the imagery herself, turning out state-of-the-art cover design, every day. We love it!

Here's Joanna Cochrane's description of her cover design process: "I usually don't get more than a few hours to decide on a solution for the cover. We have an editorial meeting at midday. Prior to that I don't know what the content that day will be. All the covers are turned around in a matter of hours. I discuss concept ideas with my editor, then execute the strongest one. Often there's a complete rethink to react to news at 4pm, and we go to press at 6.30. I use our imaging department or Steve Caplin if I need any retouching or manipulation done, and work to a strict budget, with an occasional illustration commission."

(Above): February 4, 2011. Photo illustration by Sarah Plane / Guardian Imaging.
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Bloomberg Businessweek: The Features

It's the covers of Bloomberg Businessweek that get lots of attention (and rightly so), but their feature spread design is just as smart, original, groundbreaking, and fun. Here are 10 of our favorites from the past year.

On Thursday, April 21, SPD is presenting Bloomberg Businessweek: Process, an evening that will look behind the scenes with creative director Richard Turley and the Businessweek visual team. Tickets are on sale now. We expect they'll be sold out in the next couple days, so make your plans and reserve your space ASAP!

You can see these features and more on the Bloomberg Businessweek feature Flickr page here. You can get comments and smart visual ideas from Richard Turley on his Tumblr blog here. And if you're on Twitter, you can see the latest Businessweek covers as they're posted by following  @BizWeekDesign.
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Bloomberg Businessweek: The Covers

One of the great joys over the past year has been to watch the cover design of Bloomberg Businessweek develop, find its voice, and then explode with a multiplicity of powerful, smart, original visuals, and brilliantly understated typography. On Thursday, April 21, SPD is presenting Bloomberg Businessweek: Process, an evening that will look behind the scenes with creative director Richard Turley and the Businessweek visual team. Tickets are on sale now, and are selling out quickly, so make your plans and reserve your space ASAP!

You can see most of these covers on the Bloomberg Businessweek cover Flickr page here. You can get comments and smart visual ideas from Richard Turley on his Tumblr blog here. And if you're on Twitter, you can see the latest Businessweek covers as they're posted by following  @BizWeekDesign.

Pictured above are 30 Bloomberg Businessweek covers from the 10 months. Get full illustrator and photographer credits here. Get tickets after the jump...
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Happy Birthday Ronald Reagan!

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Up: In-Flight Magazine Designed by +2 Designers

Up is the in-flight magazine for Portugal's TAP airlines. Since its launch in November 2007, the magazine has been designed by +2 designers, who are Vasco Colombo and Raquel Porto. It's published monthly in mixed languages, Portuguese and English. Each cover is uniquely designed, featuring illustrative typographic treatments by Colombo. And the magazine features fonts by Portuguese font designers (Van by Ricardo Santos and Glosa by Dino Santos). To see an entire issue of Up, you can download the iPad app version for free from the Apple app store.

(Above): April 2009. Photograph: Alexander Koch, styling: Martin Kulik.

Post-production on all covers: Fernando Martins.
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