FT ‘sharpens’ design

The Financial Times sports a fresh look today, devised by its in-house design team in conjunction with US external design consultant Ryan Bowman. Development editor Andy Davis oversaw the project.

According to a spokeswoman for the FT, the ‘design refresh’ is the second phase of editor Lionel Barber’s plan to modernise the paper. Barber spent his first year as editor improving content and merging the on-line and print factions, and wanted to reflect this with subtle design changes that ‘sharpen the FT’s look’ and reflect its ‘premium positioning’.

The weekday edition of the newspaper features a softer typeface, clearer layout for improved navigation, a revised masthead and fresh colour palette. The weekend edition masthead has also been revised, with more emphasis on the arts section.

Under the slogan ‘We live in Financial Times’, a nationwide ad campaign to highlight the new look also breaks today.