Magazine Covers - Tapa dura

The magazine cover has always been a formidable selling tool. Far more than in other forms of printed media, it is the cover that sells. Magazines have to catch the reader's eye and therefore their impact must be immediate. Today, a hundred years on from some of the fist serial magazines, it is possible to look back and see how the magazine has affected the way we perceive the world. Not only has the magazine cover provided the canvas for some of the world's great designers and art directors, but it has also also created lasting icons, from Nixon's makeover on the of "Esquire to a naked, pregnant Demi Moore on the cover of Vanity Fair Magazine Covers is an unparalleled survey of the best of magazine and periodical cover designs in the 20th centuries, from the avantgarde magazines of the 1920s through to the style press of today. Representative examples of the very best covers are chosen by design expert David Crowely to explain the methodology, motivations, and aims of the art directors and their designers. The author reveals the heydays of world-famous magazines, such as Harper's Bazaar, French Elle of the 1960s, Nova of the 1960s and Andy Warhol's "Interview of the 1970s, and shows how magazines covers were closely linked to the social and political events of the times. With over 300 color illustrations of both well-known covers and more obscure examples, "Magazine Covers is a truly international survey, a unique documentation of the development of the medium and will be required reading for all design students, designers, and vintage magazine collectors.

David Crowley is a tutor in the History of Design at the Royal College of Art, London.