The New York Times Magazine revealed a size reduction and subsequent redesign this weekend. Basic rundown:
* Cropped by 9%.
* The Times commissioned a new typeface, Lyon Text, by typographers Kai Bernau and Christian Schwartz to maintain the same copy per-page ratio.
* 2 new display typefaces: Knockout and Nyte (by Hoefler & Frere-Jones and Dino dos Santos, respectively)
* New formats for front-of-book columns.
* Food column no longer banished to the back amidst jump pages and weird advertisements.
* KenKen (?), which I gather is like Suduko, added to crossword page.
To be honest, I didn't notice the magazine was smaller until I read the letter from the editor discussing the redesign and size cut. Now I can't stop noticing it. The typographic and layout changes make the magazine feel more cozy/chummy to me; the formidable, "This is the New York Times Magazine, sit up straight!" feeling is gone. How this plays out in the long run—or whether it even matters—remains to be seen. At least the Times has chosen to cut costs by cutting the page size rather than scraping the magazine all together.
As a graphic designer, I am disappointed by the size change but I like the new typography. I need more time to evaluate my experience as a reader. Success to me depends on whether in a month I am still mentally nitpicking the changes or can't even remember there were any.