Mark Leeds, O Magazine
This week, The Observer magazine, one of Britain’s oldest newspaper magazines was relaunched as O magazine. The redesign was led by design consulatant Mark Leeds.
Mark has played a key part in the redesign of many publications, including the 2005 Guardian relaunch in Berliner format and, with Richard Turley, on the brilliant 2010 reinvention of Bloomberg Businessweek. He’s also worked across fashion, architecture and music—most recently with Turley again on the US edition of Rolling Stone.
Since being sold by The Guardian just over a year ago, The Observer has been establishing its own identity as a weekly, Sunday newspaper. The latest part of that is a new name and look for it’s magazine.
Mark continues to work alongside in-house art director Jo Cochrane and designer Lola Williams (both with him in the picture above) on the new publication, which launched last Sunday.
What are you doing this Monday morning?
My go-to breakfast is a pancake made from one egg and one banana—whisked together and cooked with butter in a pan. Most people make a grimace when I tell them. Just try it! Simple and healthy. I stop for a coffee (latte) at my local café, Fine Grind, flip open the laptop, send a few emails, and review what I was working on the previous day/evening.
Since November, I’ve been commuting into Fitzrovia (a lovely part of London, just north of Oxford Street) from Tunbridge Wells in Kent. On the way in, I’m ‘on it,’ working. I walk past Trafalgar square, I take a photo, trying to capture something different each time. On the way home… I have a nap.
Describe your work environment
The Observer office has workspaces on the ground floor and the fifth floor. Mostly I work on a laptop—and I can’t really sit still—so I move around a lot in the office and round the block. I find this helps me focus intensively in bursts and allows me to pivot to new ideas easily.
I like the energy of a bit of hubbub and white noise around me, and the opportunity for a serendipitous chat. We have an outside ‘deck’ on the fifth floor; if you crane your neck, you can see the BT Tower.
Which magazine do you first remember?
I remember a brief but dedicated interest in collecting 2000AD comics, and stacks of National Geographic, which gave me a sense of a bigger world full of colour and big images.
A bit random: I loved the Next directories (designed by Why Not Associates, in the nineties), and later The Face, which reflected some of the world I was in—and definitely a world I wanted to be in. (I recently found some of my Face collection in the attic. I’d cut them up to make my own designs. )
Aside from yours, what’s your favourite magazine/zine?
I always struggle with questions like this. I like the ambition of magazines—the impact they can have, how they can encapsulate a moment by gathering stories together. Often, they end up having more cultural resonance in hindsight than they appear to at the time. I love how a relatively small group of people can align to bring an idea, interest, or place to life. The last three I bought were Foreign Affairs, Eye Magazine, and Kinfolk.
I have a soft spot for general-interest magazines (New York Times, Financial Times Weekend, Guardian Weekend, Observer Magazine) as they balance familiarity and surprise—and have a large audience. I like the idea that what we do can help change minds.
What other piece of media would you recommend? And why?
Exhibitions, TV documentaries, podcasts, specific social media…
Storyville is an amazing set of stories and storytelling. Brave reporting, time, and commitment; it challenges preconceptions.
The Missing Cryptoqueen is an incredible podcast about a hidden world of hacking, money, and mystery.
It’s not on now, but the Lee Miller exhibition at Tate was excellent—a great life, amazing images.
Social media-wise, I go quite niche. Here’s a design-focused one: Matt Lamont is a devotee to design and constant inspiration:
Describe the new Observer magazine in three words
Life well lived
How complete is the reinvention?
Perhaps unusually (at least for me), there was a period of intentional experimentation ‘live’ since December 2025. Some of the redesign ideas were fast-tracked and are already in place; others needed time to develop and evolve. Alex Moshakis (magazine editor) Melinda Stevens (editorial consultant) and I worked at great pace, producing many ideas and routes.
‘Intentional’ is a key word. We’ve retained some familiar sections, like a city guide, but are focusing on neighbourhoods—fewer museums and landmarks (which can easily be found elsewhere) and more insider experiences of where to go, eat, and drink.
There are four ‘acts’ to thenew magazine: Observations, Features, Home & Away and Cravings.
We also introduce a new font, Mrs Hoyle by Mario Feliciano, bringing grace alongside the Observer’s Caslon Ionic. The format is smaller, with improved qaulity-paper at a new print site. We will keep looking to improve paper and printing to maximise whats possible.
As a consultant, how do you quickly get under the skin of a new project?
I do a lot of looking and listening—like an anthropologist. Every place I’ve worked has its own habits and beliefs, so part of the task is tuning into the culture to better understand and decode both the explicit and implicit brief.
Alongside trying to ‘feel’ a way forward, I produce super-fast, super-rough sketches of ideas. These are lo-fi on purpose—to keep moving and avoid getting stuck on any one idea. These mega-documents can easily run to 300 pages; they become the genesis of ideas or get culled.
Sometimes it’s best just to start. It provides something tangible. Moving quickly and identifying what it’s not going to be is as useful as discovering what it might become.
How do you begin redesigning a weekly newspaper magazine with such a long, storied history?
It can be terrifying if you start from a position of ‘I must not break or drop this precious thing.’ I try to focus on its purpose now, rather than comparing it to previous eras. I did look back to the Romek Marber era—tremendous work: strong ideas, strong visuals, and bold confidence. All of which I hope we build to.
Indies didn’t overtly inform our approach, however you can see magazines like Apartamento—with an intimate approach to photography—echoed in what we've done. Similarly, we’re keen to reduce the emotional distance between interviewee and reader. Hopefully over time, we can develop a unique style.
I research photographers and illustrators from magazines I like, and I’m comfortable and confident in giving new (and old!) creative talent opportunities. One great advantage of The Observer Magazine is its reputation—it opens doors, and people want to be part of it. It has kudos, and this all adds to the thrill of designing a new iteration of it.
Highlight one element that sums up the redesign
The new logo, ‘O.’ This signals a shift: ‘magazine’ content can—and should—exist across media under the O moniker, (in ways appropriate to different audiences and formats). Print is a great place to start: it offers a large canvas to express a new visual identity and is relatively straightforward to switch over. I’m excited about how we add motion to O. It’s very deliberately formed of 60 ‘rays.’
We went through quite a number of ideas before a 3am epiphany. I worked with Tobias Hall to really explore and finalise a ‘marque’ that is modern, scaleable and has a connection with the original 1791 Observer titlepiece
What has publishing issue one taught you that may be helpful to anybody else planning to make their own magazine?
There are different ‘speeds’ to magazine-making. Of course, you need to plan—developing a logo, a typeface, and regular new columns all requires testing and refinement. However, some of the energy of magazines only comes from live material.
Trialling designs ahead of launch helps, but keep an open mind and respond to the unique ingredients of each feature as it arrives. Have a plan—but allow it to change.
What are you most looking forward to this coming week?
Week one was a heave, week two is done already (thanks Jo and Lola), and week three is underway. We have a concept in development as a possible cover—I’m excited to see how that evolves.
We also have a significant portrait planned; the subject has enthusiastically embraced our idea, so it should translate well across media. It should be enjoyable!