New Work: TIME Magazine

Cover of the redesigned TIME magazine.

Today, TIME launches the first issue of a major redesign developed by Pentagram’s Luke Hayman with TIME managing editor Richard Stengel and art director Arthur Hochstein.

As Stengel says in the editor’s letter in the new issue, “This issue of TIME marks a new beginning. The magazine has a new look and structure. Every issue of TIME tells a larger story about the world we live in, and we wanted to create a design that would best present that story.”

“The magazine has been modernized,” Hayman agrees, “but it still has the TIME ‘DNA.’ We deliberately chose fonts and design elements that echo classic TIME magazine.” During the redesign process, Hayman worked closely with TIME’s in-house team, including Stengel, Hochstein and deputy art directors Cynthia Hoffman and D.W. Pine.

Paula Scher, who collaborated with Hayman on the redesign prototype, explained part of the thought process behind the project. “We created a system that we thought would resonate with today’s readers. It’s full of quick bits and relevant info, but still retains the spirit of TIME. We used the display typeface Franklin Gothic that was part of the history of the magazine, and revisited the grid used by Walter Bernard,” the legendary editorial designer.

Left: The new table of contents, arranged on a horizontal axis. Right: The Briefing section, the new front of book.

The magazine has been organized into four clearly defined sections—Briefing, The Well, Life and Arts—to help readers navigate the content and provide the magazine with a stronger structure. The sections are sign-posted through the use of bold headlines. The front of book section, formerly called Notebook, has been renamed the more active title “Briefing,” and is designed to contain an easily ascertained roundup of the previous week’s events, short news items and the popular Milestones and Verbatim sections.

Briefing contains short news items and a roundup of the week’s events.

Briefing is followed by Commentary pages, where the magazine’s columnists, who include Joe Klein, Walter Isaacson and William Kristol, have been emphasized. The Well features both long and short articles, including the cover story. In the Life section writers have been given more prominence, with small silhouetted portraits that appear at the top of the pages. Finally, the Arts section reviews and reports on culture, books, movies and music in a clean and updated manner.

Before and after Commentary section. The redesign emphasizes the columnists.

Cover story in The Well section.

Sections are identified through bold headlines in Franklin Gothic.

Web touts have been embedded throughout the magazine that indicate related content at TIME.com. The contents page has been re-imagined on a horizontal axis, like a timeline. The size of the cover logo has been reduced, a decision that allows for secondary cover lines and images to be run in a row of boxes above the logo.

Hayman, who previously was design director of New York magazine, creative director of Travel & Leisure, creative director of Brill’s Content and design director of I.D. magazine, says “To redesign an icon like TIME is one of the ultimate editorial design opportunities. It’s been an exciting and intense experience.”