The Atlantic Gives a Very Atlantic Explanation For Its Redesign

There’s one thing gets us UnBeigers fired up, and that’s a rip-roarin’ magazine redesign. But try as we might, we just can’t wrap our heads around a magazine like the Atlantic getting a new look. They, however, have gathered some choice polysyllabic words in “Some Words About the Design” which describes their move from “too humble” to, well, tables:

The design of The Atlantic has always been so self-effacing, so quietly subordinate to the magazine’s stories, essays, and poems, that it seems somehow out of keeping to draw your attention to the redesign in your hands.

Go on, go on!

The logo and the basic geometry of the cover remain the same. It is inside the magazine that you will notice changes, some of them subtle, others more striking. Among the latter, the most obvious is the introduction of illustrated tables of contents–yes, that’s tables, plural.

Tables! Plural?!

Unfortunately you have to be a subscriber to read the rest of this compelling description, and, to see these fabled tables. Much more interesting is Michael Kelly‘s story about the history of the magazine’s design, prompted by their last redesign in February of 2001.

Create a social media strategy, launch your campaign, and track the results in our Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting February 16. The online event and workshop will feature speakers including The Onion‘s Baratunde Thurston (left), Facebook’s Morin Oluwole, and bitly’s Tim Devane. Register now.