Esquire barcodes

The eagle-eyed Esquire readers amongst you will have noticed that for a while now, (since Sept. 07 issue) Esquire have been having a bit of fun with their barcodes. This month they shed a bit of light on the matter.

It's interesting to read there's a process that goes into creating each barcode. They even commision a proper illustrator to do them. That's some attention to detail.

Here's a few recent ones that Israeli illustrator Noma Bar has been having fun with.


Quite often these are tucked away in the corner or relegated to the back cover but Esquire has embraced them and given them a bit of added value. It makes a refreshing change to see something interesting being done with one of the duller elements of a magazine cover.

You can see more covers and barcodes here.