20 Magnificent Magazine Covers in Recent Years

The art of graphic design is continually evolving with society, fashion, technology and politics. Our styles and colors are inspired by everything around us and in turn, we can see snapshots of our evolving culture in the designs of the recent past. Taking a look at 2 years of magazine covers from major publications, I collected 20 contemporary magazine covers that I appreciated.

Twenty Magazine Covers from 2007 – 2009

bon-appetit-aug-228

Bon Apetit Magazine – August 2008

departrues-oct-2008

Departures Magazine – October 2008

gq-march-2008

GQ Magazine – March 2008

harpers-bazaar-mar-2009

Harpers Bazaar – March 2009 (Subscribers Edition)

home-miami-may-2009

Home Miami – May 2009

latina-march-2008

Latina – March 2008

new-york-look-magazine-mar-2009

New York Look – March 2009

new-york-look-spring-2008

New York Look – Spring 2008

new-york-magazine-mar-2-2009

New York Magazine – March 2, 2009

new-york-magazine-mar-9-2009

New York Magazine – March 9, 2009

new-york-magazine-nov-2007

New York Magazine – November 2007

new-york-times-magazine-dec-2008

New York Times Magazine – December 2008

new-york-times-magazine-jun-2008

New York Times Magazine – June 2008

New-York-Times-Style-Magazine-spring-2008

New York Times Style Magazine – Spring 2008

sports-illustrated-december-2008

Sports Illustrated – December 2008

the-new-yorker-nov-17-2008

The New Yorker – November 2008

vanity-fair-jan-2009

Vanity Fair – January 2009

vanity-fair-sept-2007

Vanity Fair – September 2007

wired-2008

WIRED – April 2008

w-magazine-mar-2009

W Magazine – March 2009

November 2, 2009

  • del.icio.us
  • StumbleUpon
  • Facebook
  • Digg
  • FriendFeed
  • Reddit
  • Twitter

31 Comments

Online Printing

Comments on this post:

  1. Dzinepress - November 2nd, 2009

    amazing choice and very much selective covers. cool

  2. Anna Green, Web Design - November 3rd, 2009

    Very nice collection i particularly like Vanity Fair – January 2009. I often buy random magazines just because i like the design of the cover and there layout. They make very good inspiration. Especially for laying out website designs.

  3. Sceneel - November 3rd, 2009

    But several of these covers are terrible! Harpers Bazaar – March 2009 – her hair is not properly cutout and she doesn’t drop any shadow. New York Look – March 2009 – Horrible cutout! Just look at her chin and under her eyebrows! Home Miami – May 2009 – Did noone take a close look at the stairs in the pool?!

  4. Dan Hutson - November 3rd, 2009

    20 magnificent magazine covers? Not by a long shot. I count maybe seven covers worth including. The rest are nothing special. What a disappointment.

  5. Jonathan Patterson - November 3rd, 2009

    The Eric Bana and the Bernie Madoff cover aren’t all that magnificent to me. Other are cool though!

  6. website design - November 3rd, 2009

    Hey that was a really nice post… I work in a website designing company and appreciate it a lot…

  7. Isaac - November 4th, 2009

    Good collection of some interesting covers!

  8. Neil K. - November 4th, 2009

    Yea, not all that amazing in my opinion.
    But how could you miss the great Esquire cover featuring hand-painted typography on a beautiful woman?
    http://www.porhomme.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/bar-rafaeli-july-2009-esquire-magazine-nude-morality-1.jpg

  9. Anna Green, Web Design - November 4th, 2009

    Iv just realised that the Eric Bana photograph its not at all flattering i don’t think. The lighting makes him look a little like a burns victim. Is it just me that see that?

  10. Stella Burchard - November 4th, 2009

    Definitely a range. I personally didn’t find the GQ or Miami Home picks very standout, especially with all the great covers there are out there, but perhaps they will inspire others!

  11. Nathan - November 4th, 2009

    Nice list, some are brilliant (Latina Bazaar), others… meh.

  12. Zohaib - November 5th, 2009

    Jessica Alba Latina cover. Fantastic

  13. elisa - November 6th, 2009

    New York Magazine – March 2, 2009 – Great Cover! It’s amazing seeing mainstream media commissioning graffiti artists! (Kaws in this case)

  14. Michal Wurm - November 10th, 2009

    There are some interesting covers mentioned here. I’m more of a “keep it clean” kindof guy so I really like New York Look – March 2009 and The New Yorker – November 2008. Some good ideas there, even though they have some unused real estate so it makes them seem more like a book covers than a magazine.

    The Sports Illustrated – December 2008 and the Vanity Fair – January 2009 are really well done and have a feel of real “cover, cover”.

    And I have to give it to Neil – the Esquire – July 09 cover with woman and hand painting looks really good. Thanks for mentioning it and posting a link :)

  15. Melody - November 10th, 2009

    Very cool covers..love the ones from New York Look! Very inspirational for composition of a design..

  16. Kristina - November 13th, 2009

    thanks for the posts, it helps to see what there is for variety today and makes me feel better about the outlook in the design field for myself when I get a job someday. Not all covers need to look so alike like some do.

  17. izdelava spletnih strani - November 15th, 2009

    nice stuff, Gisele is really hot babe

  18. Mehrdad - November 25th, 2009

    Very Beautifull

  19. Paris Kuechler - November 29th, 2009

    Nice selection of covers… Especially the New Yorker stuff is always interesting and refreshing! Thanks

  20. Fashion Illustrator - November 30th, 2009

    Very creative covers! Really love them

  21. DesignBuddy.com - December 5th, 2009

    I personally wouldn’t consider most of these as being “magnificent”, but there are some that are quite nice. The Benie Madoff as the joker is a pretty powerful and eye catching cover. The last two covers just don’t look good to me though. Thanks for the post.

  22. Someidiot - December 7th, 2009

    I liked New York Mag. and Wired.. the rest are bleh for me

  23. News 20 Magnificent Magazine Covers in Recent Years | Web 2.0 Designer - December 8th, 2009

    [...] the rest here: 20 Magnificent Magazine Covers in Recent Years Leave a Reply Cancel [...]

  24. News 20 Magnificent Magazine Covers in Recent Years | Web 2.0 Designer - December 8th, 2009

    [...] the rest here: 20 Magnificent Magazine Covers in Recent Years Leave a Reply Cancel [...]

  25. LA - December 16th, 2009

    I love the departures one, as a matter of fact I have that mag and kept it for that reason.

  26. cchana - December 23rd, 2009

    the new yorker one looks amazing.

  27. Ajay - January 5th, 2010

    Great collection! much appreciated.

  28. Anonymous - January 11th, 2010

    wow….

  29. Magnetic Sign - January 11th, 2010

    Great collection of stunning magazine covers, I really like the New York Times covers, especially the one with George Clooney.

  30. summa white - January 13th, 2010

    all tof ther pics are shiyt

  31. Edward - January 25th, 2010

    Wow, some of these are great. As for the others, they aren’t that great

© 2009 You the Designer. All Rights Reserved