MARIAGE Québec has reached a milestone…25 years of successful publishing. Join me in congratulating them! This 226 page thick issue looks great.

This cover is a classic “less is more” approach.

Publisher Denyse Croteau Clermont had this to say about the cover:

“For our special 25^th anniversary cover, we decided to go a more authentic route by using real people throughout the magazine. Our cover image depicts a happy couple who will get married next summer and we added children dancing around them as we wanted to show how such a joyous event can be shared with family. You’ll notice also that we decided to forgo the use of extra copy on the cover and focus mainly on our 25th anniversary logo.

Inside the issue, our various editorials showcase real bridesmaids and real children; putting a focus on genuine experiences submitted by our readers. In fact, cover to cover, the entire issue is a family-focused celebration. This issue is in honour of our silver anniversary – 25 years of helping Quebec brides plan the happiest day of their lives.”

The Winter 2014 issue of Rotman is set to hit newsstands on January 13.

The cover features Albert Einstein, perhaps the most iconic and symbolic chap most people could identify as a “brainiac” if polled on Family Feud.

"The 30th issue of Spacing (Winter 2013-2014) and our 10th Anniversary issue was super fun to create and eventually eat. We commissioned pastry artist Sarah Fortunato to create a cake in the shape of Toronto City Hall. I had originally imagined the image on the cover would be the cake lit with candles, while the eaten version of the cake would appear on the final page of the magazine. But when the photo shoot was completed and I began to comb through the 300-plus photos, it was the eaten cake that seemed to resonate as the cover image.

"City Hall is currently in disarray and the idea of 'stick a fork in it' seemed appropriate. And, as I have written before in the magazine, it is nearly impossible for us to write about current events surrounding Rob Ford, as the news seems to come at us in waves by the day or even the hour: by the time the magazine hits newsstands whatever we have written about would be stale.  So we decided to declare what was not in the magazine with our bottom headline, ‘Absolutely no article about the Rob Ford saga. Zero. We promise.’ But in smaller text, ‘Just analysis of his poor decisions as mayor of the city.’  And in even smaller text, ‘Okay, maybe a few words about crack.’"

A very cool link to other Spacing covers: http://spacing.ca/toronto/2013/12/13/stories-behind-10-spacing-covers/

Worth a read. 

Here’s what art director Jamie Hodgson had to say about the cover process:

“Coming off of last years awards issue, which we described as a ‘keg party’ of athletes, I was challenged with following it up in the same vein. I came up with a holiday wreath of athletes. The great thing about these types of covers is they are engaging once you get them in your hands. People will always show their knowledge by pointing out athletes they recognize. I wanted to take it a step further and create an interactive info-graphic style cover. Having to physically spin the magazine to see all the athletes and having all the sell lines point to specific athletes (and a few non-athletes) will engage the reader longer which is always the goal. Looking for 'their guy' is the goal here. I always have fun putting in a few things that don’t belong (non-athletes like Paulina Gretzky and even one movie star). Like last year, one athlete is duplicated and a contest is run to see who can figure it out. Everyone asks me, how many are on the cover? Guesses range from 100-300 athletes. The answer? 149. Yes, that includes fan-favourite Blue Jay Munenori Kawasaki. It took a long time to put together but it’s good fun, and thankfully only once per year.”