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The Atlantic’s Redesign Bucks Minimalist Trends to Revisit Its Storied 162-Year History
‘We needed to underline the historical weight that this magazine carries’
By Rachel Hawley
Earlier this month, The Atlantic unveiled the cover for its December issue, titled “How to Stop a Civil War.” The cover art is simple and arresting, a single blue-and-red handprint in dripping paint against a crisp white background. Where the instantly recognizable italic wordmark of The Atlantic would normally appear across the top of the cover, there is only white space, instead replaced with a plummeting serif ‘A’ in the upper-right hand corner.
The ‘A’ as a metonym for the name of the publication is one of the many changes debuted in the newly redesigned Atlantic. The magazine’s last substantial redesign was in 2008; in the nearly 12 years since, the world of editorial design has seen the usual revolving door of trends, as well as more lasting shifts such as a renewed minimalist focus. Were The Atlantic a young publication embarking on its first ever redesign, it might have found itself torn between the influence of sans serif-heavy Swiss modernism that has characterized the past decade and the groovy, decadent typography and aesthetic that has seen a recent resurgence. Instead, The Atlantic’s design team…
