“There have a few interesting articles recently that have focused on the design of the New Yorker magazine, both praising and critiquing its consistency, and mainly taking issue with the inside of the magazine, but what is taken as a given by both is the very central role illustration has in that design, particularly in its striking covers. Made all the more striking of course as today there is so little use of illustration so central to a magazine’s brand image…
Over time however the ‘Poster Cover’ and its defenders in the magazine’s Art rooms began to slowly lose favor to the philosophy of ‘cover lines‘ and what would begin as a whole new direction in magazine cover design. This I think can also be seen as a sure sign of the rising influence of marketeers and advertising suits within a magazine’s boardroom and the increased marginalization of its art department’s influence. The magazine cover had become in many cases no more than a grotesquely enlarged small ad.” (Thanks Design Observer!)
Link:
http://www.scamp.ie/2007/08/02/the-illustrated-brand/
