New York Times’ The Wirecutter gets a much more Times-y logo design

By MixDex Article may include affiliate links

New York Times owned review site The Wirecutter has taken another (digital) step closer to becoming part of its parent.

The website, which offered in-depth reviews on hundreds of products and services, switched to using a version of the font Karnak, which is the longtime typeface the newspaper and, later, its website, uses for section headings.

The bold new logotype sits aside the iconic “T” in blackletter with a thin line separating the two elements. The blue from the old logo remains in the favicon and as an accent color throughout the site.

Even before the change, The Wirecutter used the sans serif Franklin, serif Serifa for select headings and Imperial as body copy — all of which are used in both the Times’ digital and print platforms.

The Wirecutter was launched in 2011 and The New York Times bought it in 2016.

The site makes money by using outbound affiliate links to the products the site recommends, but also says it has editorial policies that separate the review process from the team that adds affiliate links — and, if a product is reviewed that is sold on a site that doesn’t have an affiliate program, the link is still used.

After the purchase, the site began sporting the line “A New York Times Company” in light gray below its lighter, blue sans serif logotype that also included a stylized “W” in a circle.

In addition to the logo change, the site is now located at nytimes.com/wirecutter, though the domain “thewirecutter.com” redirects readers to the new location.

In a page announcing the changes, the site says it will continue its practices of separating reviewers and revenue generation. The site also has a team of its own employees outside of the main New York Times newsroom — and it says that will continue to be the case.