The redesigned site for TIME magazine knocked me flat: It’s beautiful, functional and very TIME. It definitely recalls elements of NY Times’ Web redesign, such as a horizontally scrolling features bar and similar typography. But I love how the whole TIME page is framed with red, and that it’s exceptionally well-organized.
Along with a redesign of the physical magazine, this is part of TIME’s effort to find its place in the new media world:
It’s part of a series of changes–beginning with the shift this past January of getting the magazine to you before the weekend–that we are making to create a TIME that is more meaningful and more forward looking.
The column suggests they still don’t know exactly what they want to be, though. They say they want to not only report the news, but the people and issues behind, to show why the news matters. Important, but the goal of any of media outlet, I think. Along with their pledge to offer “the best writing, the best reporting, the best thinking and the best pictures” and their expansion of coverage to include food, history, and the best entertainment bets this weekend, it seems like they’re trying to please to everyone. That was fine when there were few media outlets, but I’m still not sure what TIME offers that sets them apart from the BBC, The NY Times, Slate, and CNN.