Sixty years of revolutionary magazine covers
Ian Birch is the author of Uncovered: Revolutionary Magazine Covers, an aural history of magazine cover design from 1958 to 2016. He spent his entire career in magazine publishing, working on the launches of titles including Grazia, Red, Heat and Closer, and in this conversation he draws on his decades of experience to chart the ways in which magazines have changed over the last 60 years.
Beginning with One, the magazine for gay men published in 1958, and running right up to the relaunch of Esquire earlier this year, he considers the art and conventions of cover design, as well as the shifting role of the printed magazine in wider culture. It was fascinating to put the changes we’re currently seeing in some historical context, and if you enjoy this one you might also like to check out the conversation I recorded with Paul Gorman last summer as part of the Somerset House exhibition on 100 years of British independent magazine publishing.
Or if you’d rather hear from the magazine makers themselves, take a scroll through our archives on Soundcloud or iTunes or wherever else you get your podcasts. And remember to follow us while you’re there so we can deliver next week’s episode to you as soon as it’s ready.
