Less is more and bigger is better

As our ideas begin to turn into reality - mark this date in the history books - we also have to be careful to take a deeper notice of the messages and connotations behind the front covers of successful publications. What do the established names use to their reach to say? How do they speak our for or against the issues of the day? Can two words say as much as a galaxy of hi-tech pictures? Well as you can see below, less can be more and bigger can be better, in our magazine front cover review. 

This is a good example of extreme minimalism from an established, notable magazine supplement. While simple, the extreme black and white colour contrast provides an added emphasis to the editorial opinion, which nearly all of its readers will be accustomed. The fact that the masthead has also changed its colour code to reflect the mood – which is one of despair, as shown by the majorly black full cover.

Another magazine supplement, The New York Times Magazine, shows a strong example of how a visual metaphor can be used to create a cover that would be massively considered to be out of the ordinary about a major political figure - in their infamous Planet Hilary cover.

The presentation of Clinton as a “planet at the centre of a her own political universe – see this initial mockup below along with man-in-the-moon image from the 1902 silent film “Le Voyage Dans la Lune – can be seen as an endorsement from the magazine of her political standing, a connotation towards it’s readership that can be seen to endorse it’s own political standing through it’s front cover.

The portrayal of the political process through a solar system with galaxies and nebulas alongside Clinton as a “sun” like figures can also be seen to pass comment upon the political working of a run for president; It is generally the sign of a long standing publication when such opinion is communicated through the page layouts.

Another example of overt audience communication through the front cover weekly magazine in the same vein, The New Yorker. See here their two covers on Obamacare, the medical insurance program that has so divided American opinion.

  

Above, the classical caricature republication politicians – note that just enough of John Bohener’s face is in picture for him to be recognised having swallowed the medicine’ – of Obamacare, given in kind by the president himself. Mitch McConnell’s and Ted Cruz’s expressions have been turned from their classic media poses (see below) into those of toddlers thanks to the reddening of cheeks with simple pencil.

But when the initial exchange launched, with online issues turning the much-anticipated launch into a farce, the boot was totally on the other foot as the same visual style – nothing more than a hand-drawn front cover with a caricature style of the main players – was used to mock the technological failure of the operation, with to be fired healthcare secretary Katherine Sebelius standing with her fingers crossed as a ‘tech guy’ puts a floppy disk into a clearly outdated computer while President Obama holds a classical retro phone in the top hand corner. The outdated equipment is a clear mocking of the inefficiency of the operation while Sebelius crossing her fingers connotes a lack of control and incompetence regarding the situation.