Redesign of Design Observer

We are pleased to present a new design for Design Observer.

Our original design was humble: a default template in Moveable Type 2.6 called “Trendy.” We’ve stuck with this design for over two years, despite many complaints that we were 1) not being designers, and 2) that reversed-out type is difficult to read. However, when we started, we were determined to focus on the content first, and the form second, and this default template has served us well.

The design being previewed here today shares much with these original inclinations. We wish to maintain a focus on our main posts, and on these being readable as longish essays. We are moving to a three-column format so that our weekly Observed column may become a daily feature. And we hope to highlight more books and items from our archive. With this redesign, we have also joined The Deck, a leading advertising network of blogs we read and respect.

We’d like to here acknowledge the designer of the type used in our logo, Gotham, by Tobias Frere-Jones. Also, we’d like to thank Betsy Vardell, who has served as our design and technology consultant since our inception.