The front page features a vertical masthead layout that lets the lead image and headline shine
British newspaper The Independent recently unveiled a striking new redesign featuring a new font set, prominent use of white space, and a vertical masthead on its front page.
The redesign is the paper’s third since 2010 and took three months to complete. It was headed by its in-house team and acclaimed designer Matt Willey, head of creative Dan Barber and Stephen Patch, art director of the Sunday New Review.
Amol Rajan, editor of The Independent, said the aim was “to recreate the ‘classic with a twist’ design of its 1986 launch”, and “radiate the feeling of a broadsheet in compact form.”
The new ‘Indy’ bespoke typeface was created by Henrik Kubel of A2/SW/HK. It comprises Indy Sans, Indy Serif, Indy Condensed and Indy Hairline set in light, medium, and bold weights, and was intended for use across multiple mediums in varying font sizes, from web listings to front-page headlines.
The editorial content also got a revamp; articles are now mainly short news briefs or longer features with less mid-length articles, enabling the team to contrast the story lengths to create more white space on the pages. This is evident in the front page, where the vertical masthead lends the lead image and headline more visual impact.
The new design also smoothens the production process for sub-editing teams working on tight deadlines. Captions now have more flexible word counts which makes page fitting easier.
According to Wiley, “It felt important to do something confident, clean, and sophisticated. But it also had to be something that could be built better, more easily put together and with more understanding–something that could be sustained.”
With this radical revamp, The Independent looks like a stylish literary magazine rather than a national newspaper, achieving the brief’s goal of ‘bold sophistication’ and setting it apart from other news publications.
What do you think of The Independent’s redesign?
The Independent eagle logo drawn by La Tigre
The new ‘Indy’ typefaces by Henrik Kubel
The front page of Section 2 featuring the Indy Hairline font which links the section to the rest of the paper
A sports fashion spread under the Style section
A spread from the Voices section of the Saturday edition featuring an illustration of Jeff Koons by Lauren Crow
Picture of the day under the World section
[via Creative Bloq, images via Matt Willey]