If only it were this easy! The redesign of Evansville Living, which you’ve just perused (unless you are among the two percent of magazine readers who read back to front) was an arduous exercise illustrated by this photograph of font combinations of our nameplate placed on Evansville Living covers. If the word font (typestyles) and nameplate (our logo) aren’t part of your daily lexicon, worry not. While we redesigned Evansville Living to better serve our readers, you shouldn’t need a primer in periodical publishing or graphic arts to understand and appreciate the changes.
Though Evansville Living has continually been updated and refreshed – tweaked, you might say – the magazine, now in our 13th year, has never been fully redesigned. Our nameplate – our identity – has been the same since our inaugural issue. This is the change you likely noticed first. The new Evansville is presented in the font Agenda, described as a high-style humanist alternative to the contemporary Swiss sans serif typestyles. (A serif is a small projecting type feature at the end of type strokes; sans serif type excludes these features.)
The new Living type, called Monterey, replaces our original script, which we loved 13 years ago, but not so much now. We had begun to believe it lacked boldness and energy – and, frankly, some readers missed the word Living entirely, seeing only Evansville on the cover. The new nameplate is designed to exude new energy while staying true to the magazine.
Between the cover pages, we’ve revamped each page to harmonize Evansville Living‘s style with its substance and the tone and timbre of the times. Our style sheet (our graphic arts tool kit) has been renovated with fresh new typestyles, color palettes, and organizational devices, such as rules and boxes. Though our editorial content remains largely unchanged, we’ve renamed some popular features to make them more relevant. And, our dining section, now called Eat & Drink, has moved up in the magazine to be more accessible.
Throughout this year, readers will see the debut of new features and departments. Still, it is our hope, longtime readers should find themselves on familiar ground.
