You dont need to be a media scholar to know that in a digital world, the landscape for print magazines has been challenging over the past decade-plus. According to IBIS Worlds global magazine publishing market study, the categoryworth $105.2 billion this yearhas been declining at a compound annual growth rate of 2.4% since 2019, a trend that is expected to continue.And yet, print magazine covers are everywhere online, and more relevant than ever.Its a testament to the enduring influence of certain legacy media outlets and their talented art directors. But more than anything, magazine covers uniquely offer a static snapshot of culture at large, and collectively form a visual timeline of the times. This past year had a particularly unrelenting news cycleand one polarizing person often at the center of it all: Donald Trump. As the U.S. election cycle kicked into high gear, designers were once again there to opine on him and the rest of the political world.Were still on the wave of using magazine covers as protest [art], notes Jaap Biemansart director of Volkskrant Magazine and curator of the popular Instagram account Cover Junkiein a written exchange from the Netherlands. I adore that. It [keeps] them relevant. View this post on Instagram A post shared by coverjunkie (@coverjunkie)Unsurprisingly, Biemans doesnt see those ubiquitous Trump covers going anywhere anytime soon. But hes optimistic that creatives will be able to continue to find fresh takes on the incoming president and politics at large moving forward.Thats what a good designer does. [They] will always find something different, something surprising. [ . . . ] Maybe its time not to show the man himself but focus on his plans, his ideas, and visualize that instead of another weird orange hair cover.Of course, there was more to 2024 than Trump the fall of Joe Biden and the rise (and fall) of Kamala Harris. Gaza. Ukraine. The Olympics. The continued cultural domination of Taylor Swifts Eras tour.And they were all in print, dominating magazine coversand disseminating online far beyond the physical reach of any given periodical.What follows are 15 striking covers that uniquely told the story of 2024, with some commentary from Biemans. Biemans also included five standalone covers that embody great design for designs sake because, well . . . this year was a lot, on and off the page.[Image: Bloomberg Businessweek]Bloomberg Businessweek As if its art director had access to a crystal ball, Bloomberg Businessweek nailed this cover in January, quite accurately presaging the year to come with a convoluted maze.Dont we all think the same when seeing this cover? Biemans asks. What a world were living in. A year of unbridled chaos, but a charming approach.[Image: Politico]PoliticoWhile endless Trump covers take a predictable route, here, concept rides high, providing a simple, brilliant spin on the aforementioned rote imagery.This artwork nailed it! Content-wise and visually, [its] the best Trump cover of the year.[Image: The New York Times Magazine]The New York Times MagazineIs this photo from 1948 or 2024? Its not immediately clearand therein lies the power of this cover.[Image: The Atlantic]The AtlanticPutting the table of contents directly on the cover of The Atlantic might seem like an aptly chaotic anti-establishment approach to a chaotic anti-establishment politician. But rather, this cover served as a warning that laid bare the stakes of the election.Biemans loves the approach, and ventures that David Carson did the same at some point in his career. If he did, though, Id wager it lacked the sobering punch of creative director Peter Mendelsund and teams treatment here.[Image: The Wall Street Journal]The Wall Street JournalThis isnt a magazine cover. But in spotlighting the void left by journalist Evan Gershkovich, who was held as a political prisoner in Russia until August, The Wall Street Journal took newspaper editorial design to new heights, rivaling the best glossies out there today.White space tells more than a thousand words, Biemans says. Hail to The Wall Street Journal for running the story like this.[Image: The Economist]The EconomistThis haunting image of Ukraines embattled president Volodymyr Zelenskyy makes use not of white space, but black. The result is a cover on the edge of an abyss, where every ounce of gravity is felt.[Image: The New York Times Magazine]NYT MagAs Biemans notes, this cover makes the viewer instantly curiousand its starkness makes a statement. Moreover, by undertaking the visual heresy of erasing an image of Martin Luther King Jr.s Selma to Montgomery March, The New York Times Magazine deftly underscores the thesis of its cover story.[Image: Time]TIMEOne word sufficed on the first cover following Joe Bidens disastrous late June debate performance. No words were needed on the second, as the party quickly rushed to embrace Kamala Harris in the race against Trump.Per Biemans: Genius thinking of their art department. The discussion back then was that Biden had to leave because of his age. Well, let him leave and walk off the cover! [ . . . ] But when you add the other candidate a week later on the same composition, [that] deserves a design hallelujah.[Image: Hommes China]HOMMES China The 2024 Olympics were a break from politics (at least in theory). And no magazine captured them with as much vibrancy and life as LOfficiel Hommes China.This seriesits a split runis so crispy and full of joy. The colors! The fun! Best of the year. This makes me smile.[Image: The New European]The New EuropeanNational Lampoons 1973 cover If You Dont Buy This Magazine, Well Kill This Dog became a classic, and was ranked at No. 7 in the American Society of Magazine Editors Top 40 Magazine Covers of the Last 40 Years. The New European trotted the classic visual back out as Trump made claims that immigrants were eating dogs in Ohio.Big shout-out to The New European. They try to make something spectacular each week.[Image: Variety]VarietyThanks to Swiftie culture, friendship bracelets became one of the defining ephemeral elements of 2023/2024. As such, thats all Variety really needed to capture a phenomenon.Thats how you make an attractive cover, Biemans notes. Crispy colors! Body parts! [A] simple pose! [It] sounds simple, [but those are the] hardest to make.[Image: Bloomberg Businessweek]BloombergThe Democratic Partys near-immediate coalescence around Kamala Harris took some by surpriseand she was no doubt to many a somewhat blank slate. Here, Bloomberg Businessweek sought to color in some lines.[Image: The New Yorker]The New YorkerBarry Blitt on the eve of the presidential election . . .[Image: New York Magazine]New York. . . And, yeah. Regardless of which side of the political spectrum you fall on, that sums it up.The magazine is talking to the reader here, Biemans concludes. [A] direct approach with impact.And now, to cleanse the timeline of the year that was. . . .[Image: The New Yorker]The New Yorker The New Yorker sometimes gets dogged for its gentler seasonal covers at times when the world may feel as if its burning. But well take a moment of zen from artist Peter de Sve any day. (Props if you can spot the Easter Egg.)[Image: Vogue Arabia]Vogue A hypnotic Vogue Arabia cover featuring a surreal Monica Belluci.[Image: New York magazine]New YorkThe type. The cats. The colors. The fact that it was not about politics.[Image: The New York Times Magazine]NYT Magazine A moving, beautiful cover by Gaia Alari for a moving, beautiful essay by Sam Anderson. (Its okay to cry here. I did.)[Image: The Paris Review]Paris Review And finally, a moment of artistic bliss thats neither here nor there, courtesy of Nicolas Party.This magazine doesnt scream, but it says, very calmly: Pick me up, read me, Biemans notes. Isnt this a beauty?Yes. Yes it is. And sometimes, thats enough.