Blackbook recently featured a conversation with George Lois, designer of the iconic Esquire covers above, in which he laments the state of magazine design. In some ways it could be framed as an article on the dearth of ideas. He blames (among other things) the web. Sample quotation: ""Magazine design is almost an oxymoron with most magazines today. It goes for even a great magazine like Vanity Fair. If you get even one inch of white space to breath you're lucky. Everybody's just packing in the information. Most magazines you pick up -- you choke to death."

More covers can be found on his website, along with many samples of his other work.