Cleveland Magazine will celebrate its 50th Anniversary next month and has launched a brand refresh for the occasion. Editor Colleen Smitek told Scene that the new design decisions reflect both the publication’s optimism for the future and the media climate of 2022.
“The world has changed,” Smitek told Scene in an email. “With our website and social media channels going strong, we no longer feel the need to pack as many words as possible on a page, so we’ll be focusing on delivering highly curated information to help Clevelanders live their best lives here.”
In addition to the redesigned fonts and design templates, (e.g. the new nameplate above), the magazine pages themselves will be printed on wider, slightly heavier paper stock, Smitek said, which should “enhance the tactile experience” for readers. Smitek credited the publication’s art director, Erin Stinard, for much of the work that went into the redesign.
In an Instagram post announcing the redesign, Cleveland Magazine referenced a new “conversation page” that will appear each month, and a new color palette “inspired by the view looking west down Euclid Avenue from our Playhouse Square offices.” But the biggest change seems to be pages with more “white space and breathing room.”
“Life is chaotic,” the post reads. “Information comes at us from everywhere. Our redesigned pages invite you to slow down a bit and discover something new about the city you love.”
Cleveland Magazine has also announced the hiring of Denise Polverine, formerly of WKYC and Cleveland.com, as its new Associate Publisher. President and Publisher Lute Harmon, Jr. credited Polverine’s background in digital media and marketing and said he was confident she would produce “amazing results” for local businesses who wish to advertise or otherwise partner with the publication.
“I am thrilled to become part of Cleveland Magazine,” Polverine said, in the publication’s announcement. “It’s an iconic brand that has always been in the homes of my family and friends and is becoming more and more part of the daily conversation in town on digital and social platforms.”
If that assertion is correct—that Cleveland Magazine is becoming more and more part of the daily conversation on digital and social platforms—it is due largely to the pro-active engagement efforts of Dillon Stewart. Stewart has long been a fixture at the publication as a writer and took over the dining beat in recent months, taking charge of a coverage area for which Cleveland Magazine was historically highly regarded.
Smitek noted that along with the Polverine hire, Stewart has has been promoted to managing editor. “We have a lot going on right now to drive us forward,” she said.
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This article appears in Mar 23 – Apr 5, 2022.