Time magazine is known for its striking and sometimes controversial cover designs, and the latest might be the boldest in its 100 year history. For the first time ever, the magazine's title has been replaced entirely.
The cover features a woman wearing a bandana as a face covering, printed on which is a ballot box. But the most striking aspect is the white text where the magazine's title usually sits at the top of the design, now simply imploring readers: VOTE. Like many of the best print ads of all time, this is bound to earn a few double-takes.
TIME replaced its logo on the cover for the first time in its nearly 100-year history. Here’s why we did it: https://t.co/lF4hIE0O8y pic.twitter.com/fNjckfvXEkOctober 26, 2020
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Designed by Shepard Fairey (famous for the Obama 'Hope' poster – one of our landmark graphic design events of the past 25 years), the illustration is striking in its depiction of current events. "Even though the subject in the portrait knows there are additional challenges to democracy during a pandemic," Fairey says, the person is determined to use their "voice and power by voting."
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"Few events will shape the world to come more than the result of the upcoming US presidential election," TIME editor-in-chief Edward Felsenthal wrote in a blog post on Time magazine's website. "To mark this historic moment, arguably as consequential a decision as any of us has ever made at the ballot box, we have for the first time in our nearly 100-year history replaced our logo on the cover of our US edition with the imperative for all of us to exercise the right to vote."
Replacing the title of the magazine is a bold move, but it's a testament to its strong design history that the cover is pretty much instantly recognisable (hello, red border). Like all Time magazine covers, the 'Vote' design is available to buy as a print from the magazine's website.
But while it's certainly striking, we wouldn't quite call this one of the most controversial magazine covers of all time – indeed, it's simply imploring readers to exercise a fundamental right. But when it comes to bold, timely covers, Time magazine has certainly had form in this strangest of years – we were blown away by July's climate issue design.
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Daniel John is Design Editor at Creative Bloq. He reports on the worlds of design, branding and lifestyle tech, and has covered several industry events including Milan Design Week, OFFF Barcelona and Adobe Max in Los Angeles. He has interviewed leaders and designers at brands including Apple, Microsoft and Adobe. Daniel's debut book of short stories and poems was published in 2018, and his comedy newsletter is a Substack Bestseller.
