Monday, January 28, 2008

*Cover History*

Cover types
1. Early Magazine Covers: "The Early Magazine Covers" section describes how the magazine covers evolved and came to look like what they look like today. During the mid-1700s most did not even have covers they began their publications only with the "titles & table of contents." Likewise, towards the 1800s they still published them in "book-like" covers and kept them very simple.Yet, more towards the mid-1800s, until the end of the 19th century, they began placing some type of small related illustrations. For example, the " Peterson's " a women's magazine was "richly decorated" and very popular, however, some still used the table of contents as their cover through the 1900s.
2. The Poster Cover: This section explains how they began to use "pictures that need no words" towards the end of the 1800s & 1900s. Usually they were so big it looked like they could be "framed." However, it had no cover lines, and related to the type of "season or...mood." Soon after, in the mid-1900s they began to add the name of the magazine to the illustration. Even to this day "poster covers" are still used for magazines.
3. Pictures Married to Type: The Married type was more of an "integrated" cover because it symbolized an image accomplishing to relate and support the relationship. During the mid-1900s designers "re-invented...cover lines with cover art." For example The Cosmopolitan shows the "high degree of technical skill illustrators" which connects illustration,color, and topography. Yet, in the mid-1900s magazines began to add cover lines "quietly." But in the late 1960s cover topography started to "break out of the quiet," because of this it soon became an important element of a cover design. Which gave the designers the idea in the late1700s that underlining on each issue, adding different colors "to highlight the urgency of the emphasis."
4. In the Forest of Words: This section explains how in the 21st century cover lines & cover art were both very important, which created some of the cover lines to appear larger than the actual title or name of the magazine. Also it tells us about how the author surveyed magazines during 2001 and only 8% had a "modest" cover line or some small group of cover lines, and the other 92% had concrete, "vivid" large, cover lines. Nevertheless, it explains to us how we see the world throughout culture,symbols, and language. Yet, mainly influenced by the "words on the covers of the magazines," and celebrities.

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