MediaSlut (@MediaSlut)’s choice of the best international and local magazine covers this week:
- Bloomberg Businessweek
- Cosmopolitan (UK) — Leo Burnett mockup
- Entertainment Weekly
- Taalgenoot
- Food & Home Entertaining
INTERNATIONAL
Bloomberg Businessweek, 26 January 2015
You may not know this (I certainly didn’t), but this is Bloomberg Businessweek’s first cover featuring a shirtless person — and a very fitting choice to go with the very informative article about Abercrombie & Fitch, its slow decline in the market, and the story of ex-CEO Michael Jeffries (70).
The older, shirtless model is the perfect opposite of the younger male model pictures which we’ve come to associate with A&F!
You may read the full article here (a must-read, especially if you’re in the retail and/or marketing industry), and also be sure to watch the video where editor Josh Tyrangiel and creative director Robert Vargas look at all the options they had, and chat about how they came to the decision for the above cover.
Cosmopolitan (UK), February 2015 (mockup cover)
Don’t worry, Cosmoplitan hasn’t gone all “Marie Claire” on its readers; this is purely a mock-up for a campaign it’s supporting: “to call for a day of remembrance for the victims of honour killings” (read all about it here).
The above concept was done by advertising agency, Leo Burnett, (one of three that entered a competition Cosmopolitan ran), and I think the image/issue, wrapped in a plastic bag, was executed brilliantly. Cosmopolitan stresses the following: “It is not a cover. Our February issue has been on sale for nearly two weeks, and does not feature the image that Leo Burnett created.”
But, even though this isn’t a ‘real’ cover, I consider it a worthy entry for this week’s post. You can watch a small video here to illustrate it concept more:
Entertainment Weekly, 23 January 2015
Boyhood is receiving a lot of Oscar-buzz and, having watched it myself, I totally agree with all of it! It’s also surprising how many people don’t know that the whole movie cast are the same actors over the whole 12 years it was shot (amazing to see them grow and ‘change’ during the course of the movie…).
This cover, although it’s a very simple (Photoshopped) concept, illustrates it brilliantly by showing the main character in three phases of his youth. Or, as the Huffington Post puts it, “Entertainment Weekly’s ‘Boyhood’ Cover Just Blew Our Minds”
LOCAL
Taalgenoot, Summer 2014
Afrikaans Theatre has, for the past few years, given thousands of theatre-goers what can only be described as theatre-orgasms. I’ve had a few of them, as the creativity on stage is absolutely mind-blowing!
And it’s people such as young Afrikaans theatre-guru Christiaan Olwagen making it possible.
Taalgenoot, the quarterly magazine for the ATKV, has turned Olwagen into a rockstar on this cover, with beautiful photography and creative design elements to go with it.
Read the full article (in PDF-version) right here.
Food & Home Entertaining, February 2015
This is such a cute and fun idea, and I’m sure that you’ll see the Food & Home Puzzle-Pizza at a few dinner (and children’s) parties in the near future!
A visual element that is just so striking and different that it jumps out at you on magazine shelves!
Find a cover we should know about? Tweet us at @Marklives and @MediaSlut.
Want to view all the covers at a glance?
See our MagLove Pinterest board!
MagLove by @MediaSlut is a regular slot featuring the best local and international magazine covers every week, recognising well thought-out, powerful and interesting (and hopefully all three-in-one) covers and celebrating the mix of pragmatism, creativity and personal taste that created each of them. The (for now anonymous) blogger behind MediaSlut knows way too much for his own good about media in South Africa, magazines in particular. His mission is to show when SA magazines fail but, most importantly, also when they succeed. If you’re looking for a library about SA magazines and news, this is your one-stop pitstop.
— MarkLives’ round-up of top ad and media industry news and opinion in your mailbox every Monday and Thursday. Sign up here!