A landmark in the evolution of 'The Irish Times'
Today we publish a changed Irish Times. With designers Palmer Watson we have redesigned the newspaper to make it more modern, readable, and convenient to consume by virtue of being slightly narrower in size.
Our journalism is also being enhanced to better serve our readers from Monday to Friday, and to do so in a distinctive way at the weekend.
News, business and foreign coverage which has the hallmark of our significant input features more in the front part of the paper, especially where we are in a position to provide context on news, events and trends that shape people’s lives.
The changes are balanced carefully to retain the core of The Irish Times; while highlighting elements that make it so compelling for readers.
Newspaper and digital developments over coming months will help us reach readers and consumers of all ages, especially at key stages of their life.
This is being done while retaining our values and independence which are guaranteed by The Irish Times Trust.
A smarter Irish Times – in look and content – will continue our tradition of quality journalism. We intend that the newspaper together with our digital offerings will play an essential part in informing and enriching the lives of a growing number of print and online consumers.
Design 2012: The nuts and bolts
The designers
Palmer-Watson is an Edinburgh-based newspaper design consultancy with a long record in papers in western and northern Europe. They previously worked with The Irish Times in the 2008 design refresh of the paper and were also involved in the design of The Ticket.
Their remit was to give The Irish Times a design that would serve our journalism by making the newspaper more accessible and readable.
The size
In the beginning there was a big broadsheet that was 400mm wide – now it is 368mm wide. The reduction in width is only 8 per cent, but in your hands you should feel a bigger difference in terms of making our broadsheet more manageable and readable.
For our compact publications, such as Health + Family, the reduction is in the depth while the width remains the same. The same is true for the Magazine.
The redesign to a smaller size has required changes at our Citywest printing plant and that transition has been taking place over the last few weeks.
Typography
The Irish Times typefaces are largely unchanged and we will continue to use Expresso and Flama, albeit with slightly less use of the sans Flama fonts.
