The archive · Design & Visual · Product decision · 2022
Kinfolk's 40th issue relaunches the magazine with a redesign and custom typefaces
On its tenth anniversary in print, Kinfolk redesigned the whole magazine for issue 40, commissioning a complete set of custom typefaces.
Kinfolk
What it had to solve
Kinfolk, the magazine dedicated to home, work, style and culture across a community of creative professionals, was approaching a decade in print as its fortieth issue came together. An anniversary issue could simply have carried a new cover; the decision instead was to rebuild the magazine's visual foundations.
How it works
A decade after its very first issue made its way into print, Kinfolk — the magazine dedicated to home, work, style and culture across a community of creative professionals — chose its fortieth issue to celebrate ten years in print. Most anniversary issues mark the date with a special cover or a retrospective; Kinfolk used the milestone to change the magazine itself.
The decision was a complete redesign. Alex Hunting Studio led the editorial design and art direction, and alongside that work a graphic design studio was brought in to collaborate on a complete set of custom typefaces for the magazine. Instead of restyling pages around an existing font, the title rebuilt its typography from scratch, so the new design system was owned by Kinfolk.
The redesign entered the D&AD Awards archive in the 2022 Annual under Magazine & Newspaper Design, credited to lead studio Alex Hunting Studio for client Kinfolk. The issue stands as an example of an anniversary treated as a reset: not a fresh cover on an old magazine, but new editorial design, art direction and letterforms that the magazine could keep building on.
Why it lands
- A ten-year milestone gave the magazine licence to change everything at once instead of restyling covers piecemeal.
- Commissioning a complete custom typeface set made the redesign a system: every layout inherits the same owned typographic voice.
- Bringing in a specialist studio added outside craft to the in-house editorial design, so art direction and type evolved together.
- An anniversary issue carries extra attention, so the redesign reached readers who had watched the magazine grow for a decade.
What it did
The issue gave the decade-old title a new visual system whose letters belonged to the magazine itself, unifying covers and layouts around one owned typographic identity. The relaunch entered the D&AD Awards archive in the 2022 Annual under Magazine & Newspaper Design, credited to lead studio Alex Hunting Studio for client Kinfolk.
What you can take
A milestone issue is permission to change the product design DNA: commissioning custom typefaces turns a redesign into an owned system rather than a fresh cover.
Since then
Kinfolk Issue 40 is recorded in the D&AD Awards archive as part of the 2022 Annual, in the Magazine & Newspaper Design category, with Alex Hunting Studio credited as lead for client Kinfolk. In the archive the issue is treated as the point where a decade-old independent magazine replaced its visual foundations — editorial design, art direction and type — in a single step.
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