The January 23rd issue of Maclean’s is sure to make heads spin. Creative Director, Jason Logan, has done it again, by creating an eye-catching, sure-to-get noticed, shelf-popper of a cover.
“As an image it’s a perfect inversion that’s loaded on both sides. Yes, the cover is shocking, but it also leads you to question why you find it shocking– I hope it gets people to question their own assumptions and dig a little deeper into the magazine,” says Logan.
“The article is by Anne Kingston, a renowned writer on gender relations. The image was my idea; design, art direction by Stephen Gregory and Levi Nicholson; photograph by Kourosh Keshiri,” Logan added.
Controversial? Perhaps. Sure to stimulate debate (and sales) absolutely!
The cover subject is timely, given the horrific trial going on in Kingston, Ontario regarding an alleged “honour killing.” The, uh hum, “less is more” approach to the cover’s type treatment is all about “committing to the cover.” And while normally I like to see the UPC code in the lower right corner (what I call the Baltic Avenue of cover real estate) it would have been tragic to obscure the model’s cute belly button.
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Rule #2: Subject Matter Matters
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Rule #6: Be Controversial
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Rule #13: Don’t be depressing, be fun
But, in the final analysis, this cover will sell because the veiled women’s eyes are so incredibly sexy. Is that shocking?
I’m with you Scott – the veiled woman is definitely the hotter of the two. Although it’s close.