With its forthcoming March issue The Wire will be switching to a new format, and debuting a new logo and design.

Having celebrated its 40th anniversary in July 2022 with a month-long series of live events in London, Brighton, Bristol, Manchester, Glasgow and Chicago, The Wire is now looking to the future with a sleek new A4 format, and a brand new visual identity courtesy of its new art director Guillaume Chuard.

It has become a tradition at The Wire that departing art directors recommend their successors. Guillaume was introduced to the magazine by Ben Weaver, who left the title at the end of 2022 after 14 years as its art director to take up the same position at Condé Nast’s World Of Interiors.

Another tradition at The Wire is that all incoming art directors are given a brief to redesign the title. The decision to switch to A4 had already been taken by publisher Tony Herrington, who had concluded that after 30 years the magazine’s outsize format could do with a bit of a trim. For his part, Guillaume, whose Studio Ard has previously redesigned Tate Etc, was galvanised by the challenge of coming up with a new visual identity to fit the requirements of the A4 format, while also staying true to The Wire’s commitment to covering independent, experimental and underground music in ways that are both uncompromising and accessible.

Crucially, the content of the magazine, from features to reviews, will remain the same, even as the look of it all gets a crisp overhaul. There won't be any changes made to any of the magazine’s established regular sections, which continue to provide the best context for its coverage of the world of underground sound and music, nor to an editorial direction and philosophy that over the last four decades has made The Wire into "the most essential music magazine of the contemporary era” (Forced Exposure, US), or, if you prefer, “the most prestigious music magazine in the world” (La Nacion, Argentina).

The March issue of The Wire will be on sale from 9 February.