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 Apetit Magazine – August 2008
Departures Magazine – October 2008
GQ Magazine – March 2008
Harpers Bazaar – March 2009 (Subscribers Edition)
Home Miami – May 2009
Latina – March 2008
New York Look – March 2009
New York Look – Spring 2008
New York Magazine – March 2, 2009
New York Magazine – March 9, 2009
New York Magazine – November 2007
New York Times Magazine – December 2008
New York Times Magazine – June 2008
New York Times Style Magazine – Spring 2008
Sports Illustrated – December 2008
The New Yorker – November 2008
Vanity Fair – January 2009
Vanity Fair – September 2007
WIRED – April 2008
W Magazine – March 2009


















































amazing choice and very much selective covers. cool
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.
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?!
20 magnificent magazine covers? Not by a long shot. I count maybe seven covers worth including. The rest are nothing special. What a disappointment.
The Eric Bana and the Bernie Madoff cover aren’t all that magnificent to me. Other are cool though!
Hey that was a really nice post… I work in a website designing company and appreciate it a lot…
Good collection of some interesting covers!
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
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?
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!
Nice list, some are brilliant (Latina Bazaar), others… meh.
Jessica Alba Latina cover. Fantastic
New York Magazine – March 2, 2009 – Great Cover! It’s amazing seeing mainstream media commissioning graffiti artists! (Kaws in this case)
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 :)
Very cool covers..love the ones from New York Look! Very inspirational for composition of a design..
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.
nice stuff, Gisele is really hot babe
Very Beautifull
Nice selection of covers… Especially the New Yorker stuff is always interesting and refreshing! Thanks
Very creative covers! Really love them
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.
I liked New York Mag. and Wired.. the rest are bleh for me
I love the departures one, as a matter of fact I have that mag and kept it for that reason.
the new yorker one looks amazing.
Great collection! much appreciated.
wow….
Great collection of stunning magazine covers, I really like the New York Times covers, especially the one with George Clooney.
all tof ther pics are shiyt
Wow, some of these are great. As for the others, they aren’t that great