New look and structure being unveiled at The Walrus

After a suitable pause for reflection, Walrus editor John Macfarlane and art director Brian Morgan have unveiled a new look and structure in the March/April issue, according to an excellent story in mastheadonline. (The magazine apparently prefers to call the new look for the five-years-plus title a "re-engineering" rather than a redesign, but to an outside observer, when you change the logo, the typography and the architecture and the way you assign, that's fairly sweeping.) Among the things that readers will notice change when the magazine is released February 9:

• The definite article: the The in The Walrus has been downplayed somewhat, allowing a skybar on the cover;
• The logotype has been redrawn by French typographer Jean François Porche;
• A new body face is being used called King's Caslon (Morgan says he wants the text to "disappear" and not draw attention to itself);
• Covers will have a harder "sell" and be directly relevant to a major feature inside (this is a departure from the style set by founding art director Antonio de Luca);
• Cover flaps will no longer be used;
• The magazine content is reorganized in a classic front-middle-back style;
• The magazine's back page will now contain a satirical comic strip produced collaboratively by writer and playwright Jason Sherman and illlustrator David Parkins.

The way in which stories are assigned and presented will apparently be changing, too. Macfarlane said the mix of stories will improve.

The stories will have more moment. And I hope the consequence is that when you see a story, you’ll know why that story is there at this moment in time.

While Macfarlane joined The Walrus last July on an interim basis after retiring from Toronto Life and on the departure of founding Walrus editor Ken Alexander, he seems quite comfortable and not about to leave anytime soon.

I made no secret of the fact that when I came here, I didn’t know what to expect. I did it out of a sense of obligation to the idea of The Walrus… I felt that this was something I should do and to my great delight, quickly discovered that I enjoyed doing it. So if we are successful in what we are setting out to do here, I could see myself being here for a while. Three years? Five years? Who knows?”

Related posts:

• Walrus (re)hires new art director
• John Macfarlane to be interim editor of The Walrus; AD De Luca leaving
  
• Ken Alexander resigns as editor of The Walrus