Cover Design

Over the years Jan Martin has designed well over 1,000 covers; ranging from magazine covers to record sleeves and from books to CDs. A selection is shown on these pages with separate sections for books and CDs.

Since he stems from a classical music family it is small wonder he holds classical music dear to his heart. He was very fortunate being asked to design the CD covers for the New York Philharmonic Orchestra and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for a period of eight years.

Because of this high profile work he was then asked to advise and guide a new record company from the very start. The commission included the development of its name, brand and logo as well as general design direction and marketing strategy. This became Newton Classics, the choice of recordings purely driven by musical quality and value as well as proven track record popularity with a large group of classical music fans. In a world where reviewers mostly listen, it was very rewarding that major classical music magazines spoke highly of its designs. Jan Martin designed more than several hundred covers for Newton Classics, many of which he photographed himself.

Jan Martin did not limit himself to classical music alone. Earlier, together with then partner Frans Jansen, he designed a truckload of record sleeves for various artists—Anouk being one of them—and labels, including BMG Ariola, Teldec, EMI and Warner.

At the start of his career he worked as Art Director for or adviser to many, sometimes well known, magazines including De Tijd (Dutch Time Magazine, later HP De Tijd), Carros, Ford Magazine, Taxane Journal, Quote, Vrij Nederland, Capi and Issue, to name but a few.

It was only logical that his interest in handling text moved him towards books and he “made” many books. “Making books” in the sense that he is often asked to develop book projects instead of only designing them. Together with photographer Frans Jansen he developed Jan des Bouvrie’s first monograph and for three years(!) they worked on a book about the very first sustainable building in the Netherlands resulting in the acclaimed book ‘Architecture for Nature’.

With author Bert Natter he worked on several books for the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam. For one of the Netherlands’ oldest literary publishers, Wereldbibliotheek, he designed many books, book covers and special editions.

Please enjoy a selection of his designs!