Anatomy of a Front Cover

Task 1

A breakdown of cover design elements:

Logo - A cool title that contrasts with a photo works well together, along with a minimalistic colour scheme of writing that will help make the subject stand out more.
Secondary Cover-line - Due to sizing of the secondary cover-line, there is a hierarchy due to the text being the second biggest on the page in terms of cover-line.
Main Cover-line - Because Maxim's audience is aimed for males at the age of 18-34, there has to be a certain masculinity towards the (main) cover-line, hence why the typeface 'Blender Pro' was chosen, specifically for it's rounded edges.
Typeface - On a magazine, only use one typeface upon a cover, because it can confuse the customer otherwise. Maxim only used a variety of fonts and weights whilst still using 'Blender Pro'. The scale of hierarchy upon a well designed cover is:

This is because people always look at the photo first; they only look at the cover-lines after they've picked up the magazine.

Contrast - Once a photo has been chosen, use a big/bold cover-line that correlates with the subject, so it is separated to the other cover-lines around it.
Colour - You should decide on a colour that will go nicely with the image, but also keep it minimal. You should really pick black and one or two more colours to create a more 'unified' look.