TORONTO—Last Friday, The Globe and Mail unveiled what editor-in-chief John Stackhouse has called “the most significant redesign in the Globe's history.” Design Edge Canada, with your questions in hand, caught up with Globe and Mail managing editor of presentation Adrian Norris who, along with design editor Devin Slater, was the driving force behind the paper’s new look.



Design Edge Canada: Why did The Globe and Mail undergo this redesign?

Adrian Norris: [Our] new printers were instrumental in kick starting the redesign. We spent $1.7 billion on five new printing presses across Canada, which meant we could have high-quality, full-colour on every page; a slightly narrower and shorter page (12X21 inches); and we have the option of printing on heat-set stock. The stock can be semi-gloss or gloss. We also wanted to continue to visually serve our readers.

DEC: What changes did the paper go through in terms of the fonts and colours used?

AN: The design was influenced by magazines more than newspaper design. We did a thorough search of newspapers but kept coming back to magazines because there is high-quality printing and colour on every page now, which got us into the magazine head space. We ended up with an intentionally muted colour palette so the photography and advertising would shine through. It is a very restrained palette. There is a blue, grey and our signature Globe red.

The typography was inspired by the existing fonts, which were done by Nick Shinn [GM News and GM Sans]. We were inspired by my predecessor David Pratt, who did the redesign in 2007, and also used fonts from Shinn. We really liked the body type so Nick developed a body range of serif type. We decided we would move away from sans serif, which you still see in the heds and deks, and move into the serif range.

DEC: Other visual changes to the paper?

AN: We changed the body type in June so readers would get used to it. We decided we would change the font back then because readers are passionate about the type size, so we slipped that in and didn’t get any feedback. One of the first things people will say is, 'what have you done to my type size?,' and we can say, 'we haven’t done anything to the type size, we changed it in June.' 

The leading is the same but there is the appearance of a bit more air between the lines, which makes it a bit easier to read.

We went from six to five columns...and advertising is sold on a 10-column grid. They have developed ‘advertising units,’ of which there are about 40, which allow us to have a crisper editorial space. It has neatened everything up.

DEC: Any changes in the way you use photography in the new look?

AN: We're going to make a conscious effort to use bolder photography, give it the space it needs, and reduce secondary and tertiary images. We are making a conscious effort to handle it internally better than we have been. There may be times when a photo has to be made smaller to fit with copy but we are going to make a conscious effort through planning and organization to make sure we have bold use of photography throughout the publication. Contact: Theglobeandmail.com

What do you think of the new look?