The Times
In circulation since 1785 The Times is one of the world’s leading news outlets and “an integral and important part of the political structure of Great Britain.”* On trend with the rest of the industry toward smaller formats a major restyling was planned. A change from broadsheet to tabloid and an update the entire information architecture and user experience (UX).
Following our very successful redesign of the daily supplement Times2, Research Studios was invited to collaborate in this major redesign: An improved information structure and navigation, new master stylesheet layouts, a bespoke typeface, modern iconography, art direction for graphic content usage and a contemporary proposal for the iconic crest and masthead.
A complete toolkit with which the editorial team could continue The Times’ tradition of telling breaking news stories in a compelling way and continuing to set journalistic visual trends.
Typographic exploration was an exciting part of the project. The widely used Times New Roman typeface was conceived for the newspaper by typographer Stanley Morison in 1929 as a way to improve legibility. Our interpretation, Times Modern, encapsulates the paper’s heritage while adapting to the demands of the new compact format.
Over the past four years, The Times has seen unprecedented growth. The paper increased its year-on-year circulation for 22 consecutive months following the introduction of the new format, and it is still increasing its full-rate sales, with 24 consecutive months of year-on-year growth, according to the most recent sales reviews.
Ben Preston, Deputy Editor of The Times, led the project in partnership with Research Studios’ founder Neville Brody as Art Director. Collaborating with Neville was lead designer Jon Hill supported by RS Luke Prowse.
*Allan Nevins.