Cover of the Week: Wired, February 2011 issue

I'm not sure at what point Wired took over from Wallpaper* as the magazine most likely to be found on designers' desks in my office, but it is well and truely established now as the mag most likely to get name-checked when we are discussing new ways to tell old stories. It's also become the first mag I choose to take with me on a long train journey.

The UK launch wasn't 100% commercially successful - it only hit its circulation target of 50,000 in the Jan-Jun '10 ABCs by giving away 10,000 copies a month (20% of its total circulation!) - but far be it from me to slag off a UK publisher trying to launch a newsstand mag during the current recession. It isn't easy, as we all know and Wired is a great read.

I haven't loved every one of their covers, but I think this one is a cracker. I get plenty of very visual subjects to play with on my covers but for David Rowan at Wired, more than half of his cover stories feature concepts that it is next to impossible to illustrate.

This month it's 'social commerce' - how big business is trying to flog stuff to you and your mates via Facebook. Hardly the easiest of concepts to bring to life.

Instead of attempting something literal - and lame - the art team have gone for a very bold graphic cover with not one but three headlines explaining the story. I also like the fact that they've dropped the 'launch of the year' flash a lot earlier than many other mags would have done. Fair play to David Rowan and team.