Opinion Typography

I joined the NYT Opinion in 2017 as the inaugural hire for a new digital department. At the time, there was concern that readers did not understand the difference between News and Opinion. I pitched an initiative for an identity typeface to executive leaders, which was approved by the publisher of NYT and implemented.

The Times is a storied legacy brand, so Opinion needed to look different without feeling foreign. With this in mind, I started by doing my homework— learning as much as I could about the history of the company and its design. This included interviewing colleagues, reading books, watching lectures and visiting the Times’ physical archive. I also researched how comparable organizations approached similar issues.

The Times uses one typeface, Cheltenham, for all of its headlines. I realized that one version of the typeface, Cheltenham Condensed, was rarely used. When it was being used, it was to solve for space or to add style, rather than to signal a particular type of content. I had the idea to use the typeface exclusively for Opinion content.

I documented what I had learned about the typeface and assembled a pitch deck. I presented my idea to the Chief Creative Officer, masthead editors and product executives across the company. It was received with great enthusiasm and put into production.

Subsequently, I worked with product and brand leaders to implement the change. This meant refining the typeface for broader use. I did experiments to test how the typeface looked in various applications (for example, large in an article vs. small on the homepage) and documented where I thought it could be improved. These tests were shared with the iconic type designer Matthew Carter who made final alterations before the typeface launched online.

Years later my Creative Director Kate Elazegui was hired to build upon differentiating Opinion further. Along with my colleague Frank Augugliaro, they implemented the typeface in print and launched a broader print and digital redesign.

The typeface is now one of several defining features for Opinion.