A Picture Is Worth All the Words on the Covers (and Between Them)

There's a great piece on the blog of Rob Haggart, a photography director, about how magazines now go about choosing what goes on the cover, from the headlines and come-ons to the almost inevitable celebrity. Here's a taste that shows you how insane the editorial process has become:

I look forward to the day when magazines can return to serving their audience and not the newsstand. Until then you’re stuck with 109, free, biggest, hot, ultimate, travel, toys, secrets, great, perfect, best, sex, abs, weight-loss, getaway, new, insider, easy, delicious, shortcuts, paired with a celebrity you keep seeing over and over on the covers of magazines.

Perhaps it's time for people to write (alright, email) editors and demand an end to the tripe, because I really wonder how well they sell, and whether the magazines even try to see if they can understand their readers, or if they just assume that they already know, so there's little reason to experiment or - gasp! - talk to the great mass of us unwashed.