My Top 12 Favo(u)rite Magazine Covers of 2013

Because of my accident last year I was out of commission for most of 2013. So I missed experiencing the year’s magazines covers as they were published. I was lucky to have the resources of Coverjunkie and NASCAPAS to review the year, but of course your responses are always different (at least mine are) when I view something with the time to reflect on it. With the help of some friends and colleagues, I’ve collected my 12 Favo(u)rite Magazine Covers of 2013. Technically a couple are weekly newspapers and another couple are from apps, but this is a very unscientific, totally biased and non-broadbased selection anyway. I deliberately avoided selecting covers that in most cases have been amply (and justifiably) honored by other websites and organizations. I could have easily picked a dozen Bloomberg Businessweek, New York Times Magazine, New York magazine, or New Yorker covers, but I wanted to select covers that generally were more unseen and more heralded, and that just evoked a “cool” response from me. Kudos to some other magazines who did outstanding cover work this year, including Entertainment Weekly, Rolling Stone, Real Simple, Ebony, The Atlantic, and The New Republic. It’s inspiring to see so many wonderful covers.

Special thanks to Florian Bachleda, Jaap Biemans, Wayne Ford, Claudio Franco, Andrew Horton, Joe Macleod, Marshall McKinney, Francesca Messina, Rodrigo Sanchez, Ivylise Simones, Suzanne Trudel, and Tak Toyoshima and for their help in compiling this collection. These folks have all done amazing work in the past year for their publications and organizations. Many of the covers in this list are courtesy of NASCAPAS. (Sharp eyes will notice that there are actually 13 cover images in this collection. That’s because Lucky Peach appears twice for a special themed front and back cover).

(Above: The Stranger, June 12, 2013. Art director: Aaron Huffman, photograph: Hugh Kretschmer)

Forbes Spain NASCAPS

Forbes (Spain), November 8, 2013

foto+2-54

Billboard, November 2, 2013. Creative director: Andrew Horton, photograph: Emily Berl

993593_10151478609431570_165687036_n

Harper’s, August 2013

Superman

Metropoli, June 21, 2013. Art director: Rodrigo Sanchez

1185305_546458795402174_91511994_n copy

Lucky Peach, Summer 2013, front cover

998625_546480832066637_1615846089_n

Lucky Peach, Summer 2013, back cover

photo ina jang

The New York Times Magazine, January 27, 2013. Design director: Arem Duplessis, photograph: Ina Jang

photo

Letter to Jane, Issue 4. Creative director: Tim Moore

1384553777

The Portland Mercury. Art director: Justin “Scrappers” Morrison, photograph: Kelly O

Screen+shot+2013-03-28+at+4.20.14+PM

Oxford American, Spring 2013

059_072813_COVER_FINAL

Huffington, July 28, 2013. Creative director: Josh Klenert, photo illustration: Troy Dunham

get-attachment

City Paper, September 25, 2013. Art director: Joe Macleod, illustration: Ana Benaroya

If you enjoyed My Favo(u)rite Covers, be sure to check out My Favo(u)rite Magazine, the printed collection of 88 magazine makers from around the world listing (and showing) their favo(u)rites!