The company you keep...

Eye blog has been running some interesting behind-the-scenes material about the new issue of Eye, out just before Christmas, including a piece about how the cover image was created using two separate pieces of work from the issue. I’m sure I’m not alone in finding it interesting to read this detail, see pictures from the presses (as linked previously) and hear directly from the people making magazines. It humanises the magazine and the process, making the relationship between magazine and reader closer. Creative Review have recently been doing the same kind of thing on their CR Blog – like this report from the creation of their January front cover.

One particular image (above) caught my eye, though. It shows the new issue of Eye, caught as if unawares. I can’t make out all the items in the background, but clearly visible are copies of Monocle and fellow design title Icon. What should we read from this?