Graphic Design: Wallpaper* unveil redesign under new creative director

If we were a suburban busybody, we’d spend a great deal of our time consumed by nosiness about what number 27 was doing to their lawn or how number 41 afforded TWO new cars last year. We’re not suburban busybodies (mercifully – it must be exhausting) but we are magazine publishers and as such we are always keen to have a snoop at what others in the industry are up to, and never more so than when a major title undergoes a redesign.

For its September issue the team at Wallpaper* have done just that. At the heart of the changes are two new typefaces – Portrait described as a “sharply elegant Latin serif” and Darby " a humanist sans serif which will replace Plakat (Graphik) which has been used in the title since 2007. Interestingly creative director Sarah Douglas told Creative Review that it was the “differing personalities” of fonts once released into the public domain which is behind the typographic changes.

Meanwhile the layout has been refined to create pages that editor-in-chief Tony Chambers says are defined by a “fresh, sophisticated, modern elegance” in a bid to facilitate “longer and more indulgent reads” while a higher quality paper stock also seeks to harness the qualities of the printed medium more effectively. Nicolas Roope of Poke London and Marc Kremers were brought in to oversee the polishing up of the magazine’s online offering.

It feels like a step in the right direction for one of our sector’s most iconic names and proof that Sarah has stamped her mark on the design since replacing Meirion Pritchard earlier this year.