View all newsletters
Sign up for our free email newsletters

Fighting for quality news media in the digital age.

  1. Archive content
May 27, 2004updated 17 May 2007 11:30am

Jack shows off new design and content

By Press Gazette

Jack is hoping to reinforce its presence as a men’s magazine as part of a complete re-design by new creative director Ash Gibson.

Editorial in the June issue has been re-jigged and a new strap-line “Men Read Jack” has been added to the cover.

Editor Michael Hodges said it would remind potential readers who aren’t familiar with the title that Jack is a men’s magazine.

It replaces previous strap-lines such as “A Giant of a Men’s Mag” that drew attention to Jack’s smaller size. “It was kind of funny to have on a magazine that was smaller than the opposition but a cover is not a place, in retrospect, for in-jokes,” he said.

The Most Talked About section at the front has been expanded and will adopt a newsier approach. Hodges said he also hoped to introduce more original illustrations into the fashion, and “life changing moments” which signal the journey from boyhood to manhood.

New type-faces, grids and graphics have been added to complement the page size, which Hodges said would allow the team to use space, text and image in a way they had not been able to before. “When you have a more coherent design it allows you to be more coherent in everything else you do in the magazine,” he said.

Content from our partners
MHP Group's 30 To Watch awards for young journalists open for entries
How PA Media is helping newspapers make the digital transition
Publishing on the open web is broken, how generative AI could help fix it

Former Arena editor Greg Williams has also been signed up as a regular columnist.

Jack underwent a re-launch last October in a bid to boost sales and widen its appeal outside London.

The revamp saw the introduction of a bigger format and more pages by Jack’s previous art director Steve Read.

Gibson took over the art direction after Read left to join IPC’s men’s weekly Nuts.

Hodges said there was no change to the magazine’s format this time. “We are now of the opinion that we are definitely perfectly formed. We are going to stop snipping off centimetres, we are very happy with these dimensions and they really suit the re-design,” he added.

Gibson, who worked with Hodges on Maxim and Maxim Fashion, said he wanted Jack’s design to “follow the tradition of great style magazines, mature, lively and contemporary”.

The June issue also includes a photographic supplement created by novelist Martin Amis and photographer Stefan De Luigi, as well as interviews with Ray Winston, Carmen Kass and Bob Geldof.

By Ruth Addicott

Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog

Select and enter your email address Weekly insight into the big strategic issues affecting the future of the news industry. Essential reading for media leaders every Thursday. Your morning brew of news about the world of news from Press Gazette and elsewhere in the media. Sent at around 10am UK time. Our weekly does of strategic insight about the future of news media aimed at US readers. A fortnightly update from the front-line of news and advertising. Aimed at marketers and those involved in the advertising industry.
  • Business owner/co-owner
  • CEO
  • COO
  • CFO
  • CTO
  • Chairperson
  • Non-Exec Director
  • Other C-Suite
  • Managing Director
  • President/Partner
  • Senior Executive/SVP or Corporate VP or equivalent
  • Director or equivalent
  • Group or Senior Manager
  • Head of Department/Function
  • Manager
  • Non-manager
  • Retired
  • Other
Visit our privacy Policy for more information about our services, how New Statesman Media Group may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.
Thank you

Thanks for subscribing.

Websites in our network