Bold! Modern! Classic! The New York Times Magazine Relaunches

This Sunday the nearly 119-year-old New York Times Magazine new version hit the shelves and everyone was amazed. New features, an updated logo, a new suite of fonts, and an abbreviated logo for use on social media are some of NYT’s brand new weaponry against the competition. “We have used the hammer and the tongs but perhaps not the blowtorch; we sought to manufacture a magazine that would be unusual, surprising and original but not wholly unfamiliar,” Jake Silverstein wrote in his editor’s letter. The magazine, which was last redesigned in 2011, has a “bold, clean layout. The new magazine logo and fonts will help distinguish magazine content from regular daily coverage online” commented a press release on the 220-paged debut issue of the publication.

The redesign was led by NYT Magazine’s design director, Gail Bichler, a 10-year veteran of The Times, along with art director, Matt Willey, a man of many talents and probably one of the most influential designers of out times. The typefaces, which include slab serifs for headlines and block elements, as well as modern-looking sans serifs and elegant-looking serifed fonts were designed for the New York Times by A2-Type. Gail and Matt oversaw the creation of this, nameless up to now, entire suite of typefaces which gives the magazine a more book-like feeling.

The new layout is designed by former GQ art director Anton Ioukhnevets and it gives a neat and more stripped down look to the the single-most widely read section of the Sunday paper by far -according to the Times’ own internal figures, more than 90% of Sunday subscribers read the Magazine. “Not a single letter in this relaunch issue has ever seen the light of day. They are infants; treat them gently” writes Silverstein in his introductory letter to the new version of a publication that is appreciated by nearly four million people every weekend. The magazine’s logo redrawn by the typographer Matthew Carter is more modern, “more graciously spaced” and is accompanied by a cousin, a short-form logo, which will be used in smaller and more casual settings like social media.

A little bolder, a little more contemporary, yet still classic, you can check the new New York Times Magazine feel in digital format here.

All images via The New York Times Magazine

The typefaces, which include slab serifs for headlines and block elements, as well as modern-looking sans serifs and elegant-looking serifed fonts were designed from scratch

“Not a single letter in this relaunch issue has ever seen the light of day. They are infants; treat them gently”