Esquire.com (2019)
While the printed Esquire magazine sports different art direction and typography for local editions (e.g. UK, USA), the magazine’s website has adopted a single design that is used worldwide – with local variations in content and sponsor messages.
The website seems to be built around pairing the best of mobile-first webdesign paired with maximum space for ads and endorsements. This results in pages with screenwide headlines but compact columns, allowing room for retail messages on the right hand side of your screen.
The typography is paired down, almost minimalist – two typeface families do all the work from headlines to small print: Schick Toikka’s Dia Black delivers a self-assured and spirited tone, while its Bold and Regular weight take care of the small print. Matthew Carter’s workhorse Charter handles all body copy.
Esquire’s concise design, where a uniform design is applied to all themes, makes any part of every page instantly recognisable as Esquire.com. A hot feat, with as a downside that the website seems to notice no difference between writing about watermelon cocktails, emprisoned immigrants or this week’s must-have sneakers.
