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Graphic Design: New Yorker art director Wyatt Mitchell explains his changes

Date
19 September 2013

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Hey magazine types! Planning a redesign of your title soon? Well The New Yorker have set a new standard in how to talk about it with this short but fascinating video. Art director Wyatt Mitchell explains how, a bid to modernise the magazine but retain its visual character, they have gone back to the future looking at the first ever issues and redrawing the Irvin typeface. Not only does Wyatt explain very succinctly what changes he and his team have instituted, the film is also full of great retro visuals including the initial illustration of a French aristocrat on whom the monocled mascot of the magazine is based. Excellent stuff, and if this is indeed just the start of a wider redesign then we hope the videos keep on coming.

An illustration of the masthead for The New Yorker. A figure in a tuxedo holds a piece of paper beside a city skyline and an owl, with the words “The New Yorker” above them. Below the image, a list of advisory editors is followed by the headline “Behind the News”.
Above

The New Yorker redesign film (still)

A person wearing a blue shirt and a patterned bow tie looks thoughtfully off-camera. Behind them, a white wall is covered in a collage of photographs, sketches and colourful prints.
Above

The New Yorker redesign film (still)

A sketch of a person in profile wearing a tall top hat and a high-collared coat. They have curly hair and a short beard, looking off to the left.
Above

The New Yorker redesign film (still)

A close-up of a large, minimalist sculpture made from thin white wires. The wires curve to form the outline of a capital letter “D” against a plain white wall.
Above

The New Yorker redesign film (still)

A page from a publication featuring the heading “ART” and a close-up of a wooden smoking pipe. To the right, a diamond-shaped illustration shows a reclining figure above a block of text.
Above

The New Yorker redesign film (still)

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About the Author

Rob Alderson

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Rob Alderson is a freelance writer, editor and strategist. He was previously editor-in-chief of It’s Nice That and WePresent, and editor of Design Week. He publishes the newsletter Undo, which tries to make sense of how AI is changing design work, the design process and the design industry.

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