Creative director Mark Porter leaves The Guardian

Porter says he intends to concentrate on his existing portfolio of private clients, which includes newspapers in Switzerland and the Netherlands. He will also continue to work for The Guardian as a consultant and will advise the newspaper on the design of its mobile output.

Writing on his blog, Porter says, ‘I have no desire to get into the big studio thing – the smart way to work these days is small, fast, flexible and, most of all, fun.’

Porter won The Guardian a Black Pencil at the D&AD awards in 2006 for the paper’s redesign, which included adopting the Berliner size and new typeface Guardian Egyptian. Porter was also behind developing the look of the newspaper’s website, Guardian Unlimited.

Porter says, ‘I’ve enjoyed (almost) every moment and, time and again, when I felt it was starting to get boring, something new and exciting would come onto the radar. But I’ve been here a long time and I’m beginning to feel like I’ve done it all, most of it several times over. So it’s time to move on.’

The move coincides with a large reorganisation of the newspaper’s editorial executives, which will see deputy editors Katharine Viner and Ian Katz taking on more responsibility. There are no plans at present to recruit a replacement for Porter.