Notice anything different about these pages? Font nerds might bump on some airy new typefaces, and avid eaters hopefully appreciate the expanded dining section. I’m straight-up giddy about turning our back page over to some of the city’s most compelling voices (more on that in a sec).

The biggest change, of course, is our new size—also known as our original size, those more familiar magazine dimensions that we shelved in the fall of 2017 to experiment with a larger format. We seized upon this new decade as an opportunity to rethink how we approach various aspects of Seattle Met; this book should feel as fresh and energized as the city it covers. While those supersize pages gave more play to the stunning photos and illustrations our art department commissions for each issue, we didn’t reckon with passionate readers who like to carry us around in their tote bags, or the person who pointed out that the larger format made it harder to curl up on the couch and read.

And that’s exactly how I hope people interact with this magazine. Every month, our team of writers, editors, and designers take the greatest of care to assemble a mix of stories and beautiful visuals. Seattle Met’s website may give you up-to-the-minute intel on things you can do after work, but when you settle in with our print persona, every turn of the page should feel like a discovery.

We’ve sprinkled a few additional discoveries in this, the first issue in our new-old size. Like the debut of our back-page essay section, First Person, Last Word, where all sorts of local writers will tell personal stories that explore what it means to live in Seattle. I can think of no better person to start this off than Angela Garbes; the author of Like a Mother reflects on a youth spent closing down bars on Capitol Hill. I take her words as further proof, we’re at our best when we evolve.

Behind the Scenes

>> When we first discussed resizing Seattle Met, my first call was to my former boss André Mora. We chose to simplify much of our approach while holding true to the design-forward spirit of the magazine. We jettisoned typefaces that were either too weighty or too quirky in favor of elegant replacements that still carry a warmth of character. André’s highly functional and malleable page grid gives our stories room to breathe even on this smaller scale. I look forward to rediscovering the possibilities of working within (and breaking out of) this format yet again. —Jane Sherman, Seattle Met art director