Avaunt, #5
Biannual magazine Avaunt has a habit of commissioning cover artworks that stand alone, unconnected in any direct way to a story inside the issue. Instead, they seek to represent adventure and endeavour, the themes of the magazine.
For their fifth issue, just published, design director Matt Willey worked with Manchester-based Belgian artist Mishka Henner to create this map art. ‘ I love his work and got in touch with him,’ says Willey. Henner has been using US Geological Survey maps as a basis for his work for some time; despite the sleek clean lines of the cover image, it is based on an area of Oregan known by the darker name of The Devil’s Graveyard.
Such an abstract image that breaks so many of the basics of cover design. Yet on the shelf it works surprisingly well, the topography represented on the map providing texture that is enhanced further by a heavy gloss varnish over the Avaunt stencil logo. And in the hands it is even more compelling, a beautiful piece of confident print that perfectly reflects the organised, clean visual tone inside the magazine.