Stephen Petch and Phil Kenny redesign The Economist after 17 years

The 175-year old newspaper, The Economist has redesigned its print and web layout after 17 years of the same old iteration. Headed up by head of graphics Phil Kenny and the art director Stephen Petch, the new revamp catapults The Economist into a design for today’s screen-based consumer.

All editorial pages in the publication will now be in full colour and furnished with a new custom typeface that improves on both print and digital reading. From this week onwards, The Economist is updated for its forward-thinking audience with new column idents and even a new weekly section titled Graphic detail, for new stories surrounding the emerging industry of data visualisation. This new column will break up the text-heavy newspaper with more infographic images for a wider visual variation at the reader’s viewing pleasure.

The redesign comes as the last step in a multi-year development to align every web and print iteration of The Economist from the apps to the monthly magazine. On the new design, head designer Stephen Petch states that “sometimes you need to re-examine things. What started out as a strict set of design rules 2001 has become a bit flabby. People no longer realise the intended purpose of the design rules. So it’s a chance to re-examine that.”

Re-defining the whole reading experience with the use of typefaces Milo Serif and Econ Sans. The creative team exude an “airier” and more British feel to the page through the iconic typeface Johnston which you may recognise from the London Underground which links back to the newspaper’s heritage.