One of the magazines I remember being around my parents’ living room when I was a kid was Toronto Life. We lived about 90 minutes from Toronto, and because we were up high on the Niagara Escarpment, the city frequently presented itself as a Oz-like vision in the far distance. The magazine was a look inside that Oz, and I found myself unusually engaged with it, an engagement which has stayed with me, even though Toronto is now 24 hours drive away.
That, and being a student of magazine design, make me particularly interested in the rebranding that was launched in the latest issue. Here’s the before (left) and the after (right):
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The editor explains the “new” logo in the latest issue:
The task of capturing this spirit in a logo fell to Toronto Life’s art director, Colleen Nicholson, and Commercial Type’s Christian Schwartz, who were inspired by the magazine’s debut. The inaugural cover, from 1966, featured Barbara Amiel, then a young writer and budding society fixture, under an orange logo featuring a bohemian “T,” a renegade rainbow “r” and a dignified uptown “L.”
I had some affection for the just-departed design, but the new one is growing on me.
(A reminder: if you’re an Apple News+ subscriber you can read Toronto Life there.)
About This Blog
I am Peter Rukavina and this is my blog. I am a writer, letterpress printer, and a curious person.
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