At first glance it indeed looks quite classy, and I think the salmon color of the paper works well to give it a 'warmer' feel. But I must say thet I was very dissapointed to see that except for the logo nothing of the design is translated to the webdesign of the homepage. It all looks very messy and hass no class or styyle at all. Unfortunately this is something I see all too often, and as a designer mainly creating web-based work it makes me beg for some decent development in this field, as I think there are still a lot of possibilities left instead of grabbing for the regular forms and type treatment.

You have a point there -- maybe I should take a look at the website as well. Good call.

on the news when it they told i would be pink i hoped that it would be more like the italian news paper. real pink instead of salmon. but when a saw it last week in the stand i was a bit disapointed of the color :P

I must agree with Queneau the UI of the site is really disapointing, both style and interaction. Maybe they sceduled that for later, you see that often aswell. "* I beg to differ ? have a look at Mark Simonson?s Proxima Nova. ;)" I don't. I think the descenders in the Gotham feel much better, they make these text areas less full and that gives more contrast and a better balance in the pages.

Gerben, do you mean that the Gotham's decenders and ascenders take less space compared to the ones from the Proxima Nova ?

Hm, I'm in a mind to do a side by side comparison of both faces -- they're quite different takes based on a similar model/concept. I think Proxima Nova might have a bit more bite to it, while Gotham is super silky smooth goodness.

Hi, a rather late reaction, but nevertheless... I have to admit that the entry on FD redesign is short, compact and therefore very easy to digest, so to say. And, it's about the redesign of the newspaper itself. Read: words on printed paper, something one can hold in his hand, fold it and put it in his pocket, get it out in a matter of seconds and even throw away those parts that have already been read or simply found uninteresting, and all these without being hampered, without any doubt, guilt or what so ever. Some reactions here point at the FD website. Well yes, indeed, websites are important, but they are NOT the topic here. A website (no matter how important it might be) is something entirely different. Newspapers are about printed paper, so lets just stick to that! Something else, Yves mentions - Dutch type - but... it's actually not entirely: my nationality is Dutch indeed, and Tobias Frere Jones - the designer of the sanserif Gothamm - is American. But suppose a visitor from South Africa just arriving at Schiphol airport is looking for something to read, how Dutch is Arnhem to him actually, and how American is Gottham? Arnhem might be defined (in general) as something anglosaxon and then Gottham suddenly looks more German than American... In the end what I do care about is that they blend very well (my compliments to Mark Porter and FD team), they give a good visual contrast, very up-to-date. And, if that's the case... there is a little bell that rings - Why is there no real good Arnhem-Grotesk yet? I have got some work to do. Fred Smeijers

The post itself was rather late, so we won't hold it against you. ;) About the perceived national flavour of the type: that's of course me as an informed spectator speaking. I can imagine that a "regular" reader won't notice. But as the rationale behind the selection of Arnhem was -- at least partly -- its Dutchness, I thought it was relevant to look at the inclusion of Gotham from the same point of view.

Yes Fred, I also agree, the Arnhem Grotesk should have been available since ages ;-)

Dear Yves, indeed, it played a certain role that Arnhem is A DUTCH PRODUCT. A Dutch typeface for a Dutch newspaper - it makes sense; and why not - if both are good (quality-wise) and they do match the design-goals set. But to me, that does not point per se towards something like a national flavour. If Dutch typefaces are so Dutch, then the US-Today (by using a very strong and effective Dutch typeface) should radiate something Dutch. But thank God it does not! Some Flemish newspapers use Dutch typefaces too, and even if the language is (more or less) the same, those newspapers do not look really Dutch to me. The new FD does look less Dutch than the old one, paradoxically the older version was using an American typeface. In general the new look of the FD steps (a little bit) outside of anything that one might define as typical Dutch. Instead, it connects itself a little more to a kind of global (and therefore Anglo-Saxon) atmosphere. In the end it's all about carefully finetuning all the design ingredients in order to achieve the design- and strategic goals set. And apparently Arnhem could help the team in achieving these goals and still, like the newspaper itself be a Dutch product. Fred Smeijers

Fascinating insight, Fred, thanks for elaborating. :)