150YearsofCoverDesignHarpersBazaar (1)

150 years of Cover Design

Harper's Bazaar



100 YEARS OF COVER DESIGN

HARPER'S BAZAAR

Who nearly destroyed the Harper's Bazaar logo?
When did Bazar become Bazaar?

Where did Art Nouveau come from?
And much more...

Typography: The use of Didot

Mary Booth was the editor of Harper’s Bazar from 1867 – 1889 as it
was then known. The extra ‘a’ was added in 1929. The covers were
illustrated in a clear Victorian style that was already beginning to pre-
empt the next big stylistic movement within its lettering. Art Nouveau
was a decorative, feminine style that was most popular between the
years 1890 - 1910. The floral illustrations incorporated into the text is
synonymous with the movement.

In 1934, the then editor Carmel Snow attended an art directors club
of New York exhibition, which was curated by Alexey Brodovitch. He
was immediately offered the job as Art Director and under his reign
the infamous Didot logo was adapted.

Moving forward to 1999, a young new editor was appointed to take
the helm at Harper's Bazaar and within the first 4 months Kate Betts
completely changed the logo. She was dismissed after a poor
response. Prior to this in 1992 Liz Tilberis took over Harper’s Bazaar,
bringing Fabien Baron. To bring back the past glory of the magazine,
Baron borrowed from the former art director Alexey Brodovitch, who
worked from the thirties through to the fifties. Baron commissioned a
modern update of the signature logo with a modernised version of
Didot typeface called HTF Didot. Kate Betts proved that you
shouldn't mess with a classic and that if it isn't broke, don't fix it.
Harper's Bazaar now reuses its award winning HTF Didot typography.

As for today there is only a slight twist on the typography; the current
editor Glenda Bailey says,

“It is Didot Caps, Didot Italics and also an introduction of Gotham,”

There was a time when the
cover typography went all
wrong when it was steer
infamously by Karen Betts
who ignored Baron’s rework
of Didot and decided to
make use of the ‘whitespace’
with a thick dated looking
text.

A special mention from InDesign goes to
Harper's Bazaar - Espana editions for their use
of quirky typography designs. The team regularly
experiments with typography in cover design to
give a playful feel "the images interact with the
type to create dynamic, fun-filled designs, and
well-judged experiments with sizing, rotation,
color, shifting of the baseline and tracking - keep
the designs elegant, not flashy".

The great thing about a strong, clear
font is that it is instantly recognised
as 'a brand'. Changing the colour to
suit the style of your cover without
losing any of its identity.

COVER DESIGN
The Golden Ratio

This Kate Moss Harper's The curve from the
Bazaar cover matches bottom left corner
beautifully with the idea swirling into '21'
of the 'Golden Ratio'. beautifully matches the

exact angle and position
of the model with the
logo positioned in the
exact correct ratio.
The text sits promptly in
box 13, visually satisfying
to its viewer.

From Cover Art to a Byline takeover

Covers were always designed with a strong image. In
the 1930's, magazines such as Vanity Fair, Vogue and
Harper’s Bazaar avoided copy entirely, but then
newsstand competition in the fifties and sixties
changed the game, coverlines were more common,
but usually kept short, with possibly a few B-heads
placed unobtrusively in a corner. Although,
compared to how cover design looks today, the text
was still quite minimal. The designer’s role is no
longer to solve conceptual visual problems, but to
arrange or compose type for impact. It could be
argued that though typography now plays an ever
more critical role to the ‘look’ of a magazine cover,
there is a key element of creativity that is lost.

The Layout of a Magazine

Basic guidelines for a layout help to shape and
provide a basis to develop creative ideas. However, it
is important to remember that in design, we
remember the people that broke the rules, rather
than the people that only stuck to the formula. There
are some layout principals that do not get broken.
The idea of a ‘Golden Ratio’ is there to give clarity to
how we interpret the image. When a picture is
framed there is often a larger space at the bottom
rather than at the top. This conveys a balanced feel
so the picture or image does not look as though it is
about to drop off of the page. Purpose of design can
help shape the layout so that space, format and the
amount of text and images can be done with clarity.
Alexey Brodovitch is a great example of how to break
up the conventional layout styles and yet use each
item needed to complete a great cover design.

Changing Layout Concepts

"I saw a fresh, new conception of layout
technique that struck me like a revelation:
pages that "bled" beautifully cropped
photographs, typography and design that were
bold and arresting. Within ten minutes I had
asked Brodovitch to have cocktails with me,
and that evening I signed him to a provisional
contract as art director."
Carmel Snow

Brodovitch studied the visual integration of text, image and
negative space in his many double-page spreads, experimenting
with compositional juxtaposition of photo, text, and white space.
According to him;

"Many designers are afraid of blank spaces; they cram the page with image and text and
hide it with shading coloured backgrounds."

Design Movements at Harper's Bazaar

The front covers of illustrated Harper's Bazaar demonstrate
so perfectly the evolving artistic movements of a time
period, which is arguably lost with cover photography.
Although, with photography and typography a cover design
can still definitely be 'of its time'.

The Victorian covers in comparison to the shift of Art
Nouveau covers are an incredible testament to the rejection
of a strict society, to one that embraced femininity and
sought to give women the vote. Art Nouveau drew
inspiration from geometric forms and natural, often floral
forms.

Will H. Bradley is associated with the movement, drawing
heavily from Japanese print blocking. His middle design on
the right spread, with its bold use green and blossom in the
hair, encapsulates the feel of Art Nouveau and the departure
from historical styles. The infamous Easter cover by Bradley
perfectly merges past and present design movements.



Design Movements at Harper's Bazaar

Art Nouveau is traditionally given the time frame of
1890 - 1910 a time known as 'arts décoratifs'. This
decorative artistic period led into the more well-
known and established period of Art Deco. Though
commonly associated with the 1920's and 1930's, it
was delayed due to the war. The Society of
Decorative Arts wanted to exhibit decorative arts in
1912, which was postponed until 1914 and then later
to 1925. Ironically, Art Deco was a reaction to Art
Nouveau, much like that had been a reaction to
classical art. Art Deco was not a single style, but a
collection of different and sometimes contradictory
styles.
Romain de Tirtoff under the pseudonym Erté,
designed over 200 covers between 1915 and 1937.
These represent how Art Deco and Modernism
rejected the past and created new stylistic
approaches to vivid colours and abandonment of
form.

Erté's first cover

The silhouette and framing are Bold use of explosive red was key
very conceptual

Design associated with Erté often used his signature blue Exciting use of horizontal lines
Modernism for impact.

Dada inspired First use of the extra 'A'

Art Deco Architecture Spooky gown against pastel
wallpaper

Photography in Cover Design

Alexey Brodivitch was the first Art Director to
integrate text and image, whilst most American
magazines were using text and illustration separately.
His use of movement in photography captured
moments and allowed a new sense of space to
develop through the layout of the page. He would
crop his images and bring them to the edge of the
page. Brodovitch created beautiful covers with talents
such as, Man Ray, Jean Cocteau, Raoul Dufy, Marc
Chagall, Richard Avedon and A.M. Cassandre.
Harper's Bazaar was the first magazine to shoot on
location.

The 1960's cover of Jean Shrimpton, by Avedon best
conveys the zeitgeist with photography, capturing the
new obsession with Space, which defined the
decade.

It is easy to see the impact and significance of the
illustrative years of Harper's Bazaar, but photography
also uses new techniques and innovations that bring
us towards a new digital age.



Print to Digital

Magazines such as Harper's Bazaar have managed to withstand the
digital predictions that print would vanish. Though digital versions of
Harper's Bazaar are also made, it is more as a complementary service
to the print. Harper’s Bazaar editor-in-chief Justine Picardie says,

“Our readers are professional women, they all work, and they associate the
digital space with work. They are looking for true relaxation and luxury. And
what’s the biggest luxury for them? Time. They read books, Harper's Bazaar, go
to the V&A."

Presenting a layout now has to be focused on not only how it looks on
paper but how it looks on a screen.

Having a digital site has allowed a new venture E-Commerce with
shopBazaar.com. Though focus still remains on the quality of its print.

In March 2012 Harper’s underwent a redesign, which included a
practical A5 'digest' size, a one inch wider trim, higher quality paper
and a new interior with dramatic type treatments designed by Robin
Derrick, Former Creative Director of British Vogue and Executive
Creative Director of Spring Studios. The cover also won awards from
the American Society of Magazine Editors.

The new A5 sizing is ideal for the target market. Women over 30, with
careers and great clothes; that love their iPad mini's, but don't want to
constantly looking at one outside of work. She wants her handbag
sized magazine to feel like quality and to be as compact as her travel
sized makeup kit. In this respect print has been a triumph over digital.

Specifications of Adobe rules for digital
print layout

Trimmed page size 1. Use both vertical and
290 x 215mm, Bleed horizontal layouts, so
296 x 221mm, Perfect reader can choose to view
bound, Offset litho, in portrait or landscape
Knock up to head. mode.

The new A5 size is ideal 2. Adjust layouts for each
for fitting into a handbag orientation, prepare to
and traveling with. make tweaks.

3. Add a sense of play, tap,
swipe, pinch, and drag.

150 years ago

First cover 1867 1910's femininity 1920's Decorative Arts

Modernist 30's 40's glamour Brodovitch defines the 50's

Space Age 60's

Culture & Photography 70's use of colour Decade of ad's & byline's
1980's

What could be more of a 90's
identifier than a trio of models in
clashing patterns and a logo with
iconic blue shading?

The early 2000's is often joked as
being a crisis in style and identity,
perhaps because of the pressure of
the 'Millennium'. This logo pretty
much sums up what went wrong.

This 2011 Harper's Bazaar gives a
nod to the past with a Brodovitch
style use of playful typography.
And using space differently.

This year Harper's Bazaar is
celebrating 150 years with a series
of covers each month to
Commemorate.





Who nearly destroyed the Harper's Bazaar logo?
When did Bazar become Bazaar?

Where did Art Nouveau come from?
And much more...