You know the saying: you can’t judge a book by its cover. With magazines, it’s pretty much the opposite. The cover of a magazine is the unified identity for a whole host of ideas, authors, and designers who have created the eclectic array of stories and articles and materials within each issue. And, some would argue, this identity extends to the reader as well. So if, say, you’re seen with an issue of Vogue, you’re don’t just own that copy — you become a Vogue reader.

Magazine covers are a challenge to design, since they have to be both ever-changing and also consistently recognizable. For this reason, most publications stick to a standard set practices.

This is the anatomy of a magazine cover, starting from the top. Literally.

The most obvious example is that the name of the publication is always plastered across the top, so that you can identify the brand from the get-go.

After the brand name, the second objective is to relay the new-ness of the latest issue. Magazines want to be sure that readers know they they don’t have this issue yet. There are a few ways to do this, but a good method is to use different colors month to month. Even if the covers look pretty much the same otherwise.

Then the photograph. The photograph aims to connect with the reader through eye contact and a recognizable celebrity face. But the photograph wasn’t always part of the equation. Early magazine covers were essentially illustrated.

And these illustrated covers usually did not feature celebrities. They were mostly scenes from fantasy or everyday life, or they featured the publication’s illustrated mascot. Some of these characters persist today, like the Playboy bunny, MAD‘s Alfred E. Neuman, and Eustace Tilley, the monocled ascot of the New Yorker. Even UK Vogue had an illustrated mascot — Ms. Exeter, an elegant 50-something woman who had an advice column about being a classy, classy dame. And Esquire had Esky, a mustachioed skirt-chaser in a fedora. A lot of Esquire covers featured Esky. That is, until George Lois came along. George Lois revolutionized the cover of Esquire, using big bold, eye-catching photographs. You’ve probably seen some of these covers, or at least homages to them.

The crazy thing was that Lois didn’t even work for Esquire. He was an ad man. He did commercial work.