Mommy Britney and Brangelina

Today, magazine covers are littered with high-paid celebrities and their model girlfriends. Cover design has to be catchy to draw in the attention of the readers, and apparently actors and actresses are the best way to do this. But, it didn’t always used to be that way.

This article by Coury Turczyn demonstrates the changes in cover design over time. It features “Then & Now: A Magazine Cover Design Face-off,” comparing the covers of magazines such as Vanity Fair and Fortune to 50 years ago.

While Turczyn adds in a few personal opinions, the article gives a good representation of how readers have changed, and what magazines have done with design to keep readers coming back for more.