: Does this New York Times magazine cover have any cultural significance? I was browsing the Cover Junkie site when I stumbled upon this cover of The New York Times Magazine. I don't get it.

@Si6392903

Question: How am I supposed to get what the cover tries to tell me?

There's certainly a meaning to the cover design and the best way to get some clues is to read the article of the author mentioned on it.
www.nytimes.com/2015/11/29/magazine/a-dream-of-utopia-in-hell.html
My interpretation

Why I think the cover is split in this way is to represent crossing a border into a new state (Rojava).

The reason why it might be red/yellow might be related to the good old colors of communism and the marxist philosophy. So the whole thing might simply symbolize the crossing into a new ideology.

Read the article and see below for some sources.



Some sources

Rojava: "The political system of Rojava is inspired by democratic confederalism and communalism. It is influenced by anarchist and libertarian principles, and is considered by many a type of libertarian socialism. The Constitution of Rojava has protection for currency, property rights and free trade. The basic unit at the local level is the community which pools resources for education, protection and governance. At a national level communities are unrestricted in deciding their own economic decisions on who they wish to sell to and how resources are allocated. There is a broad push for social reform, gender equality and ecological stabilization in the region"

Also read: Economy: "In 2012, the PYD launched what it originally called the Social Economy Plan, later renamed the People’s Economy Plan (PEP). The PEP's policies are based primarily on the work of Abdullah Öcalan and ultimately seek to move beyond capitalism in favor of democratic confederalism. Private property and entrepreneurship are protected under the principle of "ownership by use", although accountable to the democratic will of locally organized councils. Dr Dara Kurdaxi, a Rojavan economist, has said that: "The method in Rojava is not so much against private property, but rather has the goal of putting private property in the service of all the peoples who live in Rojava."

This region is governed by a left wing group called "People's Protection Units" (Y.P.G.), apparently inspired by the "Kurdistan Workers’ Party" (P.K.K.). Their colors are mainly red and yellow, both based on marxist-leninist ideologies.

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@Ogunnowo857

How am I supposed to get what the cover tries to tell me?

Well reading the article is a good place to start. If that's not sufficient then it might not be the best design either of the cover or the article itself. In this case it did require a bit more research to figure out as they didn't include the below in the article:



Are there any cultural, linguistic or other references that the cover (or its designer) tries to link to?

Based on the article, I believe the following is probably the cultural reference point though only the Designer could know with certainty:

Rojava is working to become its own democractic nation built entirely on Western Ideals and women's rights. It is also, according to the NYT article, translated to ‘land where the sun sets.’

The flag of Rojava is:



But even more telling is the YPG, People's Protection Units flag/pennant seen here (first one):



I think its pretty safe to say the colors were chosen to portray these concepts which correlates to the photo selected captioned, "Five young Kurdish fighters walking through Tel Brak, a town formerly held by ISIS."

While it strays from what the New York Times typically does it is bold, representative of the story, and like Rojava is a stark contrast from the norm.

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@Shelley591

It doesn't have to mean anything. Or if it does, it doesn't have to mean anything in particular to anyone in particular. It simply could be done for visual interest and impact with no other secondary meanings intended.

Beyond that, we'd have to ask the designer of the cover directly.

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@Murray664

The colors of the Kurdish flag are red, yellow, and green. The top half of this cover happens to have two of those three colors, maybe coincidentally.

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@Becky351

The New Times Magazine brand is, apparently, a solid color with the logo, usually with a single strong vignette or silhouette image, or a photo full-bleed.

This particular cover is no different except they chose for some reason to feature a photograph in a rectangular aspect that does not conform to the aspect of the magazine.

So it means they liked the photo.

As for why it belongs at the bottom, I would say that once you decide to not crop it, it is the only good choice for placement.

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@Nimeshi706

There's quite a few meanings I can draw from the use of color.

Context is important, and as we can read from the headline, the main article is about young Kurds fighting ISIS with guns and ideas. I think the "youth" and "ideas" parts are very relevant to the meaning of the colors.

Yellow is great for attracting attention, which as far as a magazine goes, is pretty important. The color itself has many meanings, here are some that I think really apply in this case:



Yellow is the color of sunshine. It's associated with joy,
happiness, intellect, and energy.
Yellow produces a warming effect, arouses cheerfulness,
stimulates mental activity, and generates muscle energy.
Use yellow to evoke pleasant, cheerful feelings.
Yellow is an unstable and spontaneous color, so avoid using
yellow if you want to suggest stability and safety.



Source

The red color also has meaning. Granted, it contrasts nicely with the yellow, but other colors could as well.

From the same source as above:



Red is the color of fire and blood, so it is associated with
energy, war, danger, strength, power, determination as well as
passion, desire, and love.
Red is a very emotionally intense color. It enhances human
metabolism, increases respiration rate, and raises blood pressure.
It has very high visibility that’s why stop signs, stoplights,
and fire equipment are usually painted red.



So from the colors there's a feeling of instability, war, danger, and intensity yet at the same time we have these young Kurds, and youth is often associated with energy, innocence, joy, cheer, passion, desire, and spontaneity.

But who knows, I could be 100% off-target here.

EDIT

After discussions with DA01 I feel like I should mention that the research behind the meanings is potentially questionable. People may have different personal meanings and it's not an exact science so I'd take it with a grain of salt. That being said the possibility still exists that these meanings played into the decision making, whether or not the meanings themselves are proven in any way.

Though after reviewing the other answers I'm inclined to lean towards the flag theory myself. Though flags themselves often have meaning behind the colors as well.



I'm personally very curious as to what meaning could be derived from the fact that the magazine cover is split 50/50. Why not 40/60, or 25/75?

Maybe it's the binary between "utopia" and "hell" or perhaps that the country itself is torn.

I wish I had more cultural insight as that may play a bigger role than anything I've mentioned so far.

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