Magazine Covers Part II

Early Magazine Covers - the early magazine covers of the mid-1700's usually just consisted of a title and a table of contents. They normally used covers that looked like the cover of books that only showed the title and no discriptions, so you wouldn't know what would be inside the magazine. It's normally centered, balanced, and has a small illustration that goes along with what the magazine is about. Cover lines began to appear in the later 1800's for magazine covers.

The Poster Cover - From the 1890's to the 1960's, one type of cover had dominated the magazine field. The poster cover had made many issues of different memorable covers. Outstanding pro illustrators emerged in the late 1800's. The big poster covers looked as they could be framed and hung on a wall. Most poster covers between 1890 and 1940 didn't even relate to a story inside the magazine. They consisted of gorgeous illustrations and or captivating photographs. The poster covers appeared on many typed of magazines. In the 21st century, some newstand magazines still continued to produce striking poster covers.

Pictures Married to Type - While many magazines over the 20th century boasted artful poster covers, others relied heavily on cover lines to draw readers attention on the outside and reel them in to read the inside. They normally consisted of a large title with the models face overlapping it, a model in a full body pose, and cover lines on all sides of the model that are carfully postitioned in relation to the model and the background. In the following decades, many kinds of this cover have been experimented, such as placements of the titles.
In the Forest of Words - For most magazines at the turn of the 21st century, cover lines were as important as cover art. Cover lines were as important as cover art at this time. In some cases, cover lines and cover art started a new, vigorous, almost shocking dance with one other. Some covers of this period contained cover lines that were larger than some of the magazine. On today's covers, fashion models and celebrities practically rent space on their own bodies on which the magazine can advertise it's contents.