Vogue Layouts

SourceAn article on Creative Review Blog showed the covers for all of the 2010 editions of UK and Italian Vogue. The layered images show a clear template for the design of the covers. The outcome of the layered covers caught my eye. The eerie layouts portray a completely different Vogue to the one we know. It is also interesting to see the difference between the Italian and UK covers. The UK design being very light and colorful compared to the heavy and dark Italian design, is this because of the magazines that the UK popularly read? Celeb, glossy magazines have a similar appearance to the white and pink Vogue covers seen above.
Also interesting is the use of a template. A design consultancy I had experience with was recently faced with the suggestion of using templates for the majority of their work. I can see the advantages of this practice, consistency being the key advantage, but templates almost deem the designer void. Art-workers are mainly used to place work into a template.  However, in Vogue, im sure the designers have plenty of work to be doing and by using templates they can keep their covers consistent and recognizable whilst also being fairly quick to put together.
This does make me consider, what was a favourable option, a career choice into editorial or magazine design.