Is There a New Style Trending in Magazine Covers?

Don’t be surprised if your magazine cover model has a slightly different pose in L.A. compared to the same magazine in New York. Magazines are judged by their covers, so publishers are now targeting consumers via double covers. The same issue may display its cover differently from one coast to another, and this strategy saves some magazines. Many otherwise fail within five years of their startup. 

Competition is the primary factor driving the push for double covers. There are twice as many magazines published in the U.S. as there were ten years ago, and magazines have to find methods to stand out to the masses. A bad cover can adversely affect magazine sales by 60 percent. Likewise, a good cover can boost sales and create loyal readers. 

Every size and type of magazine is trending the double cover, sometimes expanding to the triple one.

Madonna Triple Cover

German Vogue’s April 2017 issues feature triple covers of Madonna in various poses photographed by Luigi and Lango.

A similar tactic was crafted by editor Kristina Riegebauer  in a 2017 Austrian magazine, Grazettina. Sara Von Kienegger is featured in two different poses photographed by Stephan Friesinger. Her clothes are similar in color and style, but the poses are slightly  different. The double cover in this case appears to be used only for the sake of novelty. Von Kienegger is an up and coming artist who has been featured in numerous magazines and online journals, including CNN, WHITEWALL.ART,  TOO MUCH LOVE MAGAZINE and ARTE AL LIMTE.

Sara Von Kienegger Grattezina                          Cover 1

Sara Von Kienegger Grazettina                            Cover 2

At the youthful age of 25, Von Kienegger has already had her art in exhibition at the famous Art Basel Miami, where she exhibited her collection, FALLEN STARS, about celebrities who suffered an early demise. The work expanded her love of painting to a love of the film world, and Sara ventured into movies by financing a film for actor/producer James Franco.  I recently spoke with Sara about her double cover and her latest foray into a “double career” as well.

She said, “The double cover technique is a nice touch, as in using multiple layers in painting that are displayed in different order in different areas of the project: it adds another dimension of richness.

Her newest show is upcoming at Art Medellin August 2017, where she will  be exhibiting alongside world famous Painter Fernando Botero.

The Musicians by Fernando Botero

Columbian artist Fernando Botero’s “The Musicians” is worth roughly $2.6 million.

Frida Kahlo, a famous Mexican painter, is one of the great artists who have inspired her.

Frida Kahlo by Sara Von Kienegger

What’s next for our artistic prodigy? She has just moved to London to work on  a movie with AMERICAN HISTORY X Director, Tony Kaye, whose work she admires.  She will maintain a studio there and in Austria, as her Grand-                 mother was her early inspiration to paint.

AMERICAN HISTORY Director Tony Kaye

Sara ended her comments on double covers with the following pithy observation, “The actual Pacquiao/Maweather fight disappointed some, but the double cover issue in Sports Illustrated was a big hit….no pun intended.”