Three hundred editions means 300 attempts at wooing readers on the streets. Our Art Director, Bretton Bartleet, explores a rich (and sometimes risky) visual history.

Covers! Every magazine has one; some are more effective than others. Sometimes it is only possible to make an informed judgment about a cover’s success or failure after a particular edition has come and gone. It is an inexact science. There is no magic formula. I think of it as a visual house of cards, with you – the reader – being the ultimate arbiter …