How Computer Arts created issue 250's amazing die-cut cover

This year, Computer Arts turned 20. And to mark its twentieth birthday, the magazine teamed up with legendary design studio Non-Format to create a cover that reflected two decades of design history – and pushed printing technology to its limits.

The forms of the big '20' that Non-Format designed for issue 250's cover are a homage to the deconstructed typography that was in vogue when the very first Computer Arts went on sale at the end of 1995, turning the digits into lines, dashes and dots.

Print finishing firm Celloglas then die-cut those dots and dashes into the cover, creating a pattern of holes that reveal the colour of a sheet of 135gsm Colorplan art paper – supplied by specialist distributor G . F Smith – bound in immediately beneath.

The paper comes in 20 different colours, from China White to Vermillion, creating 20 variants for design fans to collect.

Buy Computer Arts 250 now!

To bag your own copy, head over to My Favourite Magazines to order issue 250 of Computer Arts online. The issue is also on sale in branches of WHSmith, Borders and Barnes & Noble.

Find out more about what's inside Computer Arts issue 250 here.