The legendary illustrator and designer Milton Glaser often refers to the readers of a magazine as a "tribe." Certainly few magazines demonstrate this idea better than The New Yorker, which tailors its content and editorial posture for readers of a certain mindset, regardless of where they live. This self-awareness gives The New Yorker great freedom on its covers, allowing them to speak in code to the members of the tribe. It leverages that freedom beautifully, and this list could easily be filled with just its covers. But I'll stick to one: the cover that ran immediately after the presidential election. The illustration by Bob Staake shows the moon cleverly hollowed out to form the O in the magazine's name and in the president-elect's casting its glow over the Lincoln Memorial. (I'm not sure the columns would reflect like that, but, hey, it's artistic license.) Why is the cover great? It doesn't do a victory dance. Rather, it whispers to the reader (the tribe): "Everything's okay now we have our country back." It's set at night, a time when creepy things happen, but also a time when people sleep, safe and sound. It is beautifully rendered. Simply spectacular.
The Top 10 Everything of 2008
- Top 10 Albums
- Top 10 Animal Stories
- Top 10 Awkward Moments
- Top 10 Best Business Deals
- Top 10 Worst Business Deals
- Top 10 Breakups
- Top 10 Buzzwords
- Top 10 Campaign Gaffes
- Top 10 Campaign Video Moments
- Top 10 Children's Books
- Top 10 Crime Stories
- Top 10 Editorial Cartoons
- Top 10 Election Photos
- Top 10 Fashion Faux Pas
- Top 10 Fashion Moments
- Top 10 Fiction Books
- Top 10 Financial Collapses
- Top 10 Fleeting Celebrities
- Top 10 Food Trends
- Top 10 Gadgets
- Top 10 Green Stories
- Top 10 iPhone Apps
- Top 10 Late Night Gags
- Top 10 Magazine Covers
- Top 10 Medical Breakthroughs
- Top 10 Movies
- Top 10 Movie Performances
- Top 10 Museum Exhibits
- Top 10 News Stories
- Top 10 Non-fiction Books
- Top 10 Oddball News Stories
- Top 10 Olympic Moments
- Top 10 Open Mike Moments
- Top 10 Outrageous Earmarks
- Top 10 Photos
- Top 10 Plays and Musicals
- Top 10 Political Lines
- Top 10 Quotes
- Top 10 Religion Stories
- Top 10 Scandals
- Top 10 Scientific Discoveries
- Top 10 Songs
- Top 10 Sports Moments
- Top 10 T-shirt Worthy Slogans
- Top 10 TV Ads
- Top 10 TV Episodes
- Top 10 TV Series
- Top 10 Underreported News Stories
- Top 10 Video Games
- Top 10 Viral Videos
A yearbook of all the top events you've been talking about