Courier magazine rolls out its “biggest refresh since launch”

Courier has announced a design refresh for its 50th issue, which marks 10 years in print for the magazine. The initial design concept was developed with Alex Hunting Studio and produced in-house with creative director Lisa Rahman, who added in “the elements of surprise and intrigue” found throughout, Courier creative director Kate McInerney explains.

While Courier stresses it will remain true to its founding focus – exploring how people live and work “on their own terms” – it now hopes to reimagine how it represents this success in the modern economy. In visual terms, the magazine is moving away from traditional layouts, evolving its photography and developing a bespoke approach to features and design. It’s also becoming more collectible with a bigger size and premium paper stock.

Sticker sheets and pull-out posters are an additional feature for Issue 50, with other fun printing concepts in the works for future editions. Production will now revolve around two issues a year, instead of its previous six.

Kate says: “With the 50th issue redesign, we wanted to take a classic magazine and turn it on its head. We stripped it of the traditional sections that you usually see in print and spent time creating a bespoke approach for each story.” Using the concept of a heartbeat to guide the reader, Issue 50 features a digitally interactive sleep feature by Ana Curbelo, stickers of the brand logo reimagined by Courier’s Sean Thomas and an animated poster by Ardhira Putra.

Courier magazine editor John Sunyer adds: “We wanted to design a magazine with more experimental formats that could show more forms of self-expression – almost like a mood board – and let readers see and find themselves in it.”

The anniversary release also features an interesting round-up of names, including the founders of Bao, the restaurant group who have hit the creative world with project after project this spring, including an 8-bit Baoverse app and its first release with Phaidon. Drew Joiner, Throwing Fits, Danny Lomas, Alice Moireau and Devon Turnbull also feature.