Magazine cover design contests: creative ideas from professional designers

There’s no better way to design a magazine cover. Multiple designers will send you tons of ideas for your magazine cover, and you’ll choose your favorite. No templates. No robots. No frustrating apps. Just a 100% unique magazine cover.

Completely custom cover design

We don’t do generic, templated design. With 99designs, you’ll get a bespoke magazine cover that sets you apart from the competition.
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Expert magazine cover designers

All of our designers are hand-vetted and rated for their quality, so you’ll know you’re working with the best.
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Money-back guarantee

We’re your creative partner from start to finish. We offer free design consultations and 24/7 customer support. Still don’t like your magazine cover? Get your money back.
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How a magazine cover design contest works

Create a design brief.

1. Describe your perfect magazine cover

Our interactive creative brief makes it simple to describe your design needs and set your budget.

Pick your winning design.

2. Get dozens of magazine cover design ideas

Professional designers from all over the world enter your contest by sending you concepts. You’ll collaborate and give feedback to create the ideal magazine cover.

Get dozens of designs.

3. Pick a winning magazine cover

You’ll have seven days to work with designers. Then, you’ll select your favorite magazine cover and we’ll transfer the copyright and send you the final files.

Any style, any industry. Our magazine cover designers do it all.

We’ve been the leader in online graphic design since 2008. Check out our clients who love their magazine covers.
US$299
Level Up Masterminds & Networking, alongside Homes on the Sound, offers a Vendor Guide targeting homeowners. It features
199
entries
9
designers
US$1,199
The Leap Ambassadors Community is a community of nonprofit thought leaders, progressive funders, policy makers, and inst
30
entries
7
designers
US$499
Hydra Z Does Fire Water Mold Roofing we are targeting insurance claims and restoration work our web site is www.hydraz
17
entries
6
designers
US$1,319
Ultra Soap International creates world-class, sustainable, and biodegradable concentrated cleaning products packaged in
34
entries
8
designers
US$499
We mail Kokomo’s ShopSmart magazine as a local community shopper publication that serves as a form of direct mail advert
57
entries
9
designers
US$799
Nonprofit membership and advocacy organization that is a regional think tank and advocate for businesses, schools and ci
28
entries
8
designers
We’ve saved a spot for your magazine cover
Get a design
£409 GBP
We're a magazine for book lovers! Each month, we review the best new books for all ages, across all categories and genre
45
entries
10
designers
NOK10,499 NOK
The Leap Ambassadors Community is a community of nonprofit thought leaders, progressive funders, policy makers, and inst
48
entries
7
designers
US$299
Red Angus cattle breeder targeting bull customers for annual cattle sale.
106
entries
20
designers
US$799
PRAXIS S-10 is an education company. Clients send their people to our training programs to improve their performance.
107
entries
18
designers
A$449 AUD
Nature Medicine is one of the world's most prestigious journals covering research in all areas of medicine that improves
50
entries
11
designers
US$799
We are a swimming pool supplies and equipment sales organization. Serving Residential, Commercial, and Institutional f
54
entries
18
designers
Check out our Magazine cover customer reviews (4.6 average from 12 ratings)

Professional magazine covers, no matter your budget

We guarantee that you’ll get a great magazine cover no matter what your budget is. Our higher-priced packages offer more experienced designers and more hands-on support. Prices exclude Sales Tax.

Bronze
US$299
Silver
US$499
Gold
US$799
Platinum
US$1,199
Design concepts (approx.)
Design concepts (approx.)
30
40
50
40
100% money-back guarantee
100% money-back guarantee
Full copyright ownership
Full copyright ownership
Mid & Top Level designers only
Mid & Top Level designers only
Top Level designers only
Top Level designers only
Dedicated manager
Dedicated manager
Prioritized support
Prioritized support

Your magazine cover design FAQs, answered.

Everything you need to move to production. Your cover design will be uploaded in the correct formats to send to a printer or be submitted to an online publishing platform (or both). 

Specifically, your winning designer will deliver a production-ready Adobe Illustrator file, Adobe Photoshop file, PDF file or EPS file. 

Plus, you’ll get the full legal copyright, so the design will be all yours.
On 99designs, designers agree to upload only original artwork, so each designer owns the rights to their design submissions until you choose your contest’s winner. During the cover design handover stage, the designer agrees to transfer the rights, and you become the owner of the copyright of your winning magazine cover design.
Yes! We have designers who are professionally skilled in typesetting and magazine interiors. We recommend that you run a design contest to get your magazine cover designed first. Then, choose a skilled designer from our typesetting design list and request for them to work on your project.
Yes. We offer a 100% money-back guarantee within 60 days of payment on all Design Contests, except those with a guaranteed designer prize and those that have entered the Final Round. You can also call us anytime to help you rewrite your brief, reopen your project to ensure you get a good result and help you pick a winning design. Remember, if we refund your contest, you aren’t legally entitled to use any of the designs submitted to your contest.
At 99designs, we’re dedicated to building the world’s largest community of talented, professional designers. Every designer must apply and be accepted to work on our platform. Designer applications are reviewed by human design experts, and accepted designers are classified as either Top, Mid or Entry-Level. At 99designs you can feel assured you’re working with an expert.
Lots of ideas! If you’re looking for inspiration, explore 99designs for fantastic examples of product labels created by our design community.

Bring as many specifics as you can, too, like magazine cover dimensions, printing requirements and the information that needs to go on the front and back covers of your magazine.

The more you give the designers, the better they can design for you!
Yes. If you have any specific photography or images that need to be included on your magazine cover design, please submit them to designers with your brief.

Unless you request otherwise, your designer may also use stock images (purchased from a third party) in your design. If a designer uses stock art in a design, they’ll tell you which images they are and use watermarked versions of them in their entries. Once you choose the winning design, you’ll need to purchase the stock art and provide it to the winning designer so they can complete the design.
We guarantee that you’ll get a great magazine cover design at any pricing level, but our higher-priced packages give you more design options and better support.

Here’s how it works: When you pay more, the prize for the winning designer is bigger, too. More experienced designers participate in your contest, so you get more high-quality designs to choose from. More options means additional time that's needed to review your designs. That’s why our Gold and Platinum packages offer dedicated managers to help streamline that process by writing creative briefs and giving your designers feedback.

When selecting your magazine cover contest package, think about how much time you’ll have and what experience you have writing briefs and working with designers. If you're still unsure, contact us for a design consultation.
Choose “Make your contest private” from the Contest options section before you launch your magazine cover design contest. This will prohibit designers from using their designs elsewhere, and your contest will be un-searchable on the web.

This will automatically attach a standard NDA template to your contest. If you prefer, you can also upload your own NDA.

We're here to help

Questions? Our kind, happy and humble customer support team would love to hear from you.