December 19, 2011
Out now: Coverjunkie magazine
If you enjoy magCulture you should already be enjoying the Coverjunkie website too. The site is a great resource, showcasing current magazine covers of all types from around the world. Now the man behind it, Dutch editorial designer Jaap Biemans, has published a magazine looking back at the best covers of 2011.
While the website concentrates on quantity and currency, the Coverjunkie Magazine takes a more critical approach to the material and invites a number of other designers to pick their favourite front covers. Japp includes 214 of his highlights, then hands over to the likes of Richard Turley, Matt Willey and Francesco Franchi for theirs. There are also some nice thematic selections, like this set (above) of covers about the Japanese earthquake.
The 96 large format (330 x 250mm) pages carry hundreds of covers. In short, it’s a must-have for anyone involved in magazine design, and a bargain at $12.
Buy your copy of Coverjunkie Magazine here.
10 Comments
Comment on December 19, 2011 by Alex Terry says:
Yourself and Yaap are absolute pillars of the community. I really hope this is a successful venture for him.
Comment on December 20, 2011 by Lee says:
Coverjunkie is a great collection indeed. But I have to say, I find it somewhat still in a pubescent stage.. to make it a real ‘resource’ it would be a fantastic step to have the covers properly cataloged, tagged and searchable. That really would be a great resource to all.
Comment on December 21, 2011 by Park H. says:
If you can do it, you do it. If you can’t, you review it.
Comment on December 21, 2011 by Coverjunkie Magazine | Selectism.com says:
[...] Magculture has news of the Coverjunkie’s website first foray into print. The magazine is a roundup of the best covers of 2011, with some you’ve seen and others you’ll want to see. There’s 214 covers in total, so it looks like it’ll be well worth your time if you’re into design. And if you’re not design-obsessed, this works as a catalogue of the year in magazines. [...]
Comment on December 22, 2011 by Fashion ModREn » Coverjunkie Magazine says:
[...] Magculture has news of the Coverjunkie’s website first foray into print. The magazine is a roundup of the best covers of 2011, with some you’ve seen and others you’ll want to see. There’s 214 covers in total, so it looks like it’ll be well worth your time if you’re into design. And if you’re not design-obsessed, this works as a catalogue of the year in magazines. [...]
Comment on December 22, 2011 by Jaap says:
thanks e’body. been an adventure, loved it. and cheers to the Beastie Boys that kept me going through the nights.
@Lee: i love all the input, tell me what kind of tagging? now its all categorized on title and designer, and possible to search on key words…
Comment on December 22, 2011 by Lee says:
@ Jaap, I hope you didn’t take my comment the wrong way, I would want any criticism to be seen as constructive.
The thing is, is that there doesn’t seem to be much consistency or obvious structure to the cataloging. While without a doubt it’s a fantastic archive, I would love to see it evolve into a a much more useable information system. Working within the magazine industry myself I can understand what a fantastic wealth of information Coverjunkie could become for people in and outside of the industry.
One example of what I mean can be seen in the use of titles: ‘A mirror writing cover?’, ‘Sexie German GQ’ (‘Sexy’ even) or ‘New 032c’ or ‘New 032c!’ just don’t hit the point of what I feel your mission started out to accomplish. While I don’t have a massive problem with your loose and often ‘humorous’ descriptions, when using so many of these titles the pages become very hard to navigate and I also feel in many cases that the titles belittle the hard work of many of the people involved.
I would really love to see more ‘anchor points’ to the information you are providing.
For instance, you could start each entry with a custom title by your good self, but then I feel you should really do the magazine and subject justice and strictly list some other information for the viewer, like: The real title, issue number, release date, designer/art director, photographer and even model names. All of which I’m sure would provide a massively useful and in-depth insight into the creation of the covers.
Another problem for me I must say, is the accuracy of some of the information logged with the site. I’ve noticed non-final (not printed) covers, and often details that are not correct. For example there’s an issue of 032c listed as ‘NYC’s 032c’… which I do believe is actually all about Shanghai (as is the cover image?..). Furthermore, that issue was not Art directed by Mike Meiré but Petra Langhammer. Such details surely cannot be taken so lightly!…
Comment on December 23, 2011 by Coverjunkie Magazine | StyleSOS.co.uk says:
[...] Magazine by Staff on Dec 22, 2011 • 10:30 am No Comments Magculture has news of the Coverjunkie’s website first foray into print. The magazine is a roundup of the [...]
Comment on December 25, 2011 by Jaap says:
hi Lee, thanks, love the comments and i guess youre right.
one thing i found out the last year is that its too much, i’m a one-team-army in Coverjunkie and at the same time designing several mags as for my real (paid) job.
i love your suggestion about issue date and credits and you hit it hard on the head: excactly the most difficult part, mags often dont even credit their own artwork/designers on their official hard copies or facebookpage. Coverjunkie is ‘just’ what i think is smart and creative, nothing more nothing less. and i loved the idea of show some love to this craft.
after creating the cj mag i finally found my couch again and i think i decided to cut it down. this better should be done by a full time kick ass team i guess
Comment on December 29, 2011 by En tidning om tidningsåret 2011 + Vad tycker internet? - Sidbloggen says:
[...] resten av internet. Jaap Biemans, ni vet han som driver omslagsbloggen Coverjunkie, har satt ihop en hel tidning om tidningsåret 2011. I Coverjunkie Magazine har samlat det bästa, mest provcerande och snyggaste från året och [...]
