Matter
Matter is a digital magazine devoted to long-form journalism about everything from science and technology to politics and pop culture. Born out of a Kickstarter campaign in 2012, Matter relaunches this week as the flagship general-interest publication of Medium, the publishing platform established by Twitter co-founders Ev Williams and Biz Stone. Pentagram’s Luke Hayman and team have designed a new identity for Matter, introduced as part of the magazine’s revamp.
Hayman and his team worked closely with Matter editor-in-chief Mark Lotto and the in-house design team of Erich Nagler and Indhira Rojas to create an identity that establishes the publication as an unique editorial brand. Matter’s stories are wide-ranging and in-depth, written from a viewpoint that is both smart and subversive, and the magazine wanted an identity that was irreverent and had a sense of spontaneity.
The team used distinctive typography to convey Matter’s diverse editorial voice. The new wordmark was inspired by a 1925 type specimen originally created by the Dutch designer André Vlaanderen that Hayman and his designers found during their research. The playful, pop-culture-friendly display type of the 1960s and 1970s also provided an influence. The distinctive M also works as a monogram that can be used as an app or Twitter icon, and both the logotype and monogram can be applied in patterns for branding on items like iPad covers and bags. To announce the identity, Matter’s designers created an animated version of the monogram that morphs from Medium’s “M” logo.