The prestigious recognition acknowledges the best covers worldwide. Media 10’s Icon is placed alongside titles including Vogue, The New Yorker and Forbes.

Icon’s Editor James McLachlan explained that the inspiration for the cover came from V&A Director Martin Roth’s final exhibition, Driven by German Design. It was held in Doha as part of the Qatar Germany Year of Culture, which “is perhaps the most significant display of modern German design ever assembled”, said McLachlan.

Icon’s Art Director Carlo Apostoli, Designer Morwena Smith and Photographer Felicity McCabe used a Dieter Rams-designed TP20 Radio for Braun as a symbol of German design prowess.

Rams is a German industrial designer who designed Braun's consumer products for many years.

McLachlan said, “The object is totemic, almost architectural in its appearance, but overlaid with the red, black and gold of the German flag.” Dark sand was then used to distort the black element of the flag.

The editorial concept and execution won the recognition of the SPD. Based in New York, the SPD is a global authority in promoting and encouraging excellence in editorial design.

“Often, the challenge we face on Icon is to convey complex ideas in a simple and eye-catching way. Here we achieved this by taking a very well-known Dieter Rams product and using it to construct a Bauhaus-inspired abstract art piece.

“It was a painstaking shoot with many permutations, but we really cracked it when we introduced the dark sand, which was not part of our original material palette. Carlo and I are delighted with the result," concluded McLachlan.

In 2017, Icon won global recognition from Coverjunkie with its Milano cover, illustrating IKEA’s presence at Salone Del Mobile, the Milan Furniture Fair, with an array of IKEA pencils.

Media 10 is an independent media and events company. It owns and runs events in the UK, China and South Africa, including the Ideal Home Show, Clerkenwell Design Week, Grand Designs Live and This Morning Live, as well as publications, including onoffice, Good Homes and Grand Designs magazines.