Coverjunkie asked great art director Robert Newman about the 5 most favorite covers he designed himself:

Robert's favorite #3: Real Simple, 2002:
"This was a breakthrough cover for Real Simple. The cover image was a small outtake from an interior shoot that we decided to blow up and feature. It sold amazingly well—the best-selling issue at that time—and made us realize that we could do beautiful, elegant covers with a simple idea on them."

About Robert Newman:
Robert has been a design director at a wide range of consumer and trade publications on big names like: New York magazine, Details, Entertainment Weekly, Vibe, Real Simple, Fortune, The Village Voice & Guitar World.
He and his teams won numerous publication design awards and medals. In 2004, AdAge magazine named his Real Simple team the Creative Team of the Year. Right now he's a design and content consultant for numerous publications like JCK magazine, Newsweek, O: The Oprah Magazine, Reader's Digest, TV Guide and many more.
Robert also was past president of the Society of Publication Designers, has been a frequent guest lecturer at the Poynter Institute and speaks regularly to groups and conferences about publication design and art direction.

Finally:
Don't forget to check (plus a big thumbs up) Robert's Newmanology page for your daily updates on magazines, covers and other ace mag stuff.