One Slick Cover
Our Newsweek cover oozes with computer-generated imagery, which made possible a one-day turnaround with no messy cleanup! Many thanks to Bonnie and Michelle — and Jon, of course — for the cover assignment, our first for Newsweek since Stephen Colbert a year ago, and hopefully not our last . . .
Interesting to note that Newsweek's cover no longer appears on the front page of its newly redesigned website. The screen capture above came from Newsweek's new iPad app. As magazines transition to digital, it's worth considering the significance of the cover. By abandoning it, a publication fails to capitalize on its most valuable branding element, the one with which readers are most familiar. Moreover, it signals a new issue with new content, and telegraphs the magazine's unique point of view. On the newsstand it lassoes the consumer through surprise, curiosity, emotion, sophistication, beauty and habit, and on the screen it does no less. Whether in pixels or on paper, the cover still matters.
Our last Newsweek cover, working with the fabulous Nigel Parry.
