20 Magnificent Magazine Covers in Recent Years

Inspiration   November 2, 2009  by

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

 

Cadence is You The Designer's senior blogger, and the most jack-of-all-trades of the staff. She's always trying out something different every day, some of which fuels her posts here on the blog. Let her know if you want us to post more about your favorite topic - she might know more than a thing or two about it!

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29 Responses
  1. Dzinepress   -   November 2, 2009 at 11:56 pm

    amazing choice and very much selective covers. cool

  2. Anna Green, Web Design   -   November 3, 2009 at 6:22 am

    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 3, 2009 at 7:29 am

    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 3, 2009 at 1:28 pm

    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 3, 2009 at 2:31 pm

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

  6. website design   -   November 3, 2009 at 7:38 pm

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

  7. Isaac   -   November 4, 2009 at 5:28 am

    Good collection of some interesting covers!

  8. Neil K.   -   November 4, 2009 at 5:54 am

    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 4, 2009 at 6:43 am

    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 4, 2009 at 7:20 am

    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 4, 2009 at 8:13 am

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

  12. Zohaib   -   November 5, 2009 at 6:23 am

    Jessica Alba Latina cover. Fantastic

  13. elisa   -   November 6, 2009 at 2:37 pm

    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 10, 2009 at 12:12 am

    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 10, 2009 at 5:38 pm

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

  16. Kristina   -   November 13, 2009 at 8:49 pm

    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 15, 2009 at 5:48 am

    nice stuff, Gisele is really hot babe

  18. Mehrdad   -   November 25, 2009 at 5:12 am

    Very Beautifull

  19. Paris Kuechler   -   November 29, 2009 at 12:48 pm

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

  20. Fashion Illustrator   -   November 30, 2009 at 12:04 am

    Very creative covers! Really love them

  21. DesignBuddy.com   -   December 5, 2009 at 9:52 am

    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 7, 2009 at 6:27 pm

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

  23. LA   -   December 16, 2009 at 7:29 pm

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

  24. cchana   -   December 23, 2009 at 4:36 am

    the new yorker one looks amazing.

  25. Ajay   -   January 5, 2010 at 11:35 pm

    Great collection! much appreciated.

  26. Anonymous   -   January 11, 2010 at 5:28 am

    wow….

  27. Magnetic Sign   -   January 11, 2010 at 6:00 am

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

  28. summa white   -   January 13, 2010 at 1:13 am

    all tof ther pics are shiyt

  29. Edward   -   January 25, 2010 at 7:13 pm

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