Sam,
We actually have a lot of freedom when it comes to our covers and features sections. Many times we try to do something more graphically based on the cover and run the inside story in a more standard format with photos from the events and such. There are times where our features editor wants to get local photos on the cover, but she usually lets us know. How the cover looks really depends on what the story is about. We take into account the tone of the story, as well, because it is a huge part of creating a successful design. For the Guide, we have a few things that stay the same for every issue: the fonts of "theGuide" itself and the dateline and we tend to have one main story that we design the cover around and then teases for inside stories. The location of those things can change, so we aren't forced to run the teases on the bottom, but we tend to. We also try to run "theGuide" at the top, but again if it lends itself better on the bottom, we have done that before, but our editors would rather we didn't. On occasion we will be asked to incorporate two stories into one cover design...that can often be a challenge, but we've done it before, too.
Sorry-rather lengthy! If you have any more questions, feel free to ask!
Rachel