Dazed redesigns for a new era

Dazed magazine has a brand new look for 2020, with new typefaces, more flexible layouts and sustainable paper stock. We talk to art director Jamie Reid and designer Eva Nazarova about the thinking behind it – and how the youth culture title is changing with the times 

At 29 years old, Dazed has been around for longer than many of its readers – and the actors, musicians and artists featured on its recent covers. The brand has come a long way since it was founded by Jefferson Hack and Rankin in 1991, and has fought off competition from indie titles and digital brands to remain one of the best-known platforms for youth culture, music and fashion. Other magazines have come and gone (rival The Face closed down in 2004, before relaunching last year), but Dazed has remained popular with audiences and advertisers, clocking up 1.5 million Insta followers and partnerships with the likes of Nike, Burberry, Miu Miu and Adidas.

The brand’s success is thanks in part to its constant evolution. The magazine has undergone numerous redesigns in the past few years, but, like its rivals Vice and i-D, the Dazed brand has grown and extended well beyond print. In the past few years, it has launched a new beauty platform, a new website, and invested heavily in Instagram Stories, as well as building an in-house studio which works on creative projects with brands.

The magazine was last redesigned in 2015 – a project that coincided with the arrival of a new art director (Jamie Reid), editor-in-chief (Isabella Burley) and creative director (Robbie Spencer), and saw Dazed launch a new logo along with a whole new look and feel, with glossier paper stocks that aimed to reinforce its status as a covetable object.