The Economist undergoes major redesign

After over a century and half of publishing, The Economist, the world’s most respected political, business and current affairs newspaper, is undergoing a major redesign – its first since 1987.
For the first time, The Economist – distributed in Malta by Miller Distributors Limited – will print in full colour throughout using colour photographs artwork and graphics. There will be subtle changes to the whole feel and look of the newspaper, all designed to make the ideas, arguments and analysis clearer, easier to find and easier to read.
A new typeface (Oficina) will be used for cover type and internal navigation. The Economist’s own typeface (Ecotype) has been re-drawn to make it easier to read. New navigation devices, in each section and in a two-page contents listing, will help readers find what they want.
The new-look magazine will be in line with The Economist’s traditions of taking world affairs, of all levels of seriousness and complexity, and making them understandable to readers.
“The clarity of our own language and analysis will now be perfectly matched and assisted by the clarity of our layout and graphical presentation. Existing readers will find the editorial stance and approach unchanged, but in a paper that is easier to find your way around. New readers, who have often told us that they find The Economist rather forbidding, will now find us easier on the eye but just as stimulating to the brain,” editor Bill Emmott said.
Already, 760,000 people worldwide subscribe to or buy The Economist each week, a total that has been growing steadily for two decades. In all some three million people read The Economist each week.
To support the redesign a new TV commercial (devised by AMV BBDO in London) shot on location in South Africa, which tells how Nelson Mandela read The Economist during his long years of imprisonment, was launched worldwide yesterday. The TV campaign will be supported by poster, print, radio advertising and subscription drives throughout Europe, Asia and the US.