A Good First Impression: A Look at Cover Designs

         My research begins with one of the oldest and most-recognized literary magazines published in the U.S.;  The New Yorker.

 by Christoph Niemann Feb. 23, Mar. 3 

by Adrian Tomine Nov. 8, 2004 

by Malika Favre June 6 & 13, 2016

         What I first noticed was that unlike most magazines, The New Yorker's covers never feature photography of any kind; each issue always displays a piece of artwork. This, evidently, is a characteristic of most literary magazines--which is quite appropriate for a genre that serves to  showcase art.

         There's an implied distaste for "selling out" present in both The New Yorker itself and the general culture of artists. The attempt of capitalizing one's art is generally frowned upon because it's considered to be compromising the integrity of the craft. The covers emphasize the main image above all else; the only text is the dateline, the price, and a modestly sized Masthead. Notice the lack of cover lines; judging by the cover alone, the magazine isn't trying to "sell" the reader anything. The New Yorker relies solely and wholly on its cover art to gather attention.

         And attention it does gather; I personally find the covers to be absolutely beautiful! Many of these designs impress me on an aesthetic level, but a few others stood out for their controversial subject matters.

by Christoph Niemann Nov. 28, 2011

by Barry Blitt Oct. 19, 2016

by Art Spiegelman Mar. 8, 1999

         Whatever it is The New Yorker is trying to say, it certainly isn't going to say it quietly, and this certainly says something about its audience. The magazine doesn't target one gender over the either; the male to female ratio of readers is more or less even. The demographic of its readers hovers around adults in their mid-forties with high incomes. This comes to a surprise to me. Typically, people over the age of thirty tend to be less liberal; I would've thought the audience wouldn't be very perceptive to this content. Either way, the purpose of a literary magazine cover is clear; impress your audience with something visually pleasing  or shock them with something politically charged. In that way, I suppose there's similarities between this genre and most other ones.









Citations:
http://www.megamediamarketing.com/demographics.html