The Maggies awards for the Best Magazine Covers of the Year demonstrated the incredible power of a single sheet of A4 paper to leap out of a crowded news-stand and win new readers.
That is when a cover operates in a real-world situation. It is consciously designed to compete in an often frenzied market place, fully aware of an army of competitors in demanding to catch the uncommitted eye. Online, a magazine cover is seen only in isolation—either called up by choice (almost certainly by an already established visitor) or stumbled upon by a passing browser. In itself, it is not and cannot be a begetter of new business.
Entries for this year’s Maggies showed a wide range of imaginative treatments for catching the eye – and setting the cash tills ringing.
Metal Hammer (winner of the Entertainment section) went for the horror treatment. Literally dripping with blood, the cover shows members of the iconic Heavy Metal band, Slayer, as four ghoulish mutilated faces with flesh torn away to reveal jawbones and eye sockets. The magazine explained that it set out to “shock, impress and disgust.” For the kind of reader it seeks, that was right on target.
New Scientist (winner of the Specialist section) used a single image to attract its target audience – planet earth being crushed atop a lemon squeezer to wring out the very last drops of oil to sustain our carbon-dependent civilisation. Simple, topical, thought-provoking and so effective.
An unlikely neighbour on the Awards shelf was the Beano comic (winner of the Youth section). At the furthest extreme, this was design deliberately gone mad. Marking Dennis the Menace’s debut on children’s TV, here was the wild-haired rascal bursting out of the cover with all the explosive impact of a boisterous cartoon style which has delighted generations of youngsters. And in a touch not to be lost on grandparents of today’s buyers, the transformation of Dennis into an all-action electronic image was marked by the issue carrying a free gift offering the only form of animation available to comic readers in pre-TV days – a proflix booklet which brings a character to life when you flick the pages. !)
So there you have shock-horror, philosophical graphic and cartoon mayhem.
But of all the titles voted for by 40,000 members of the public the overall winner as Magazine Cover of the Year chose a very different way to be startlingly different from everyone else jostling for attention. GQ (also winner of the Fashion section) just played it cool. Very cool, most elegant – and proof that a moment of calm can be more arresting than a constant clamour.
Here was the glamorously controversial Sienna Miller curled up in a peacock chair which perfectly framed her image and its main coverline of “I’m not here to win a popularity contest.” The expression is demure but the eye contact is direct and promises frank revelations. There is sufficient flash of thigh to pull in the lads but a secondary coverline of “William Hague: Why we might bomb Iran” is there to remind them this is very much a gentleman’s magazine with intellectual pretensions.
So a cover that ticks all of its boxes – and provided a bestselling issue.
Other section winners: Lifestyle – FHM; Sport – Whitelines; Technology – Wired; Trade – Marketing Week.
