IN 1938, when we last made a number of simultaneous changes in TIME's appearance, we learned that familiarity had bred content in some of our readers. One subscriber wrote: "Outraged betrayed, I went dejectedly off to bed last night. My brooding thoughts: Whistler's Mother with eyebrows plucked, lips rouged and fingernails enameled a brilliant scarlet, the legs of a fine old Chippendale piece replaced with chrome." This week we present another modernization of design. Before readers give us their reactions, brooding or otherwise, I thought I would explain why we considered the renovation important.

"Appearance," said Managing Editor Henry Grunwald in a note to the staff, "supports and supplements our content. The typography of a magazine is as important as the design of a building. It makes the whole thing work, creates an instant impression, conveys a mood." Though the basic look adopted 33 years ago had proved remarkably durable, we have felt for some time that our graphics could be fresher, more emphatic and flexible, while respecting TIME's traditional sense of order. More than two years in the planning, under the guidance of Art Director Louis Glessmann, the changes are evolutionary rather than radical.

For decades, the trend in our cover design, for instance, has been to reduce the frame and allow more emphasis on the art. The ornate scrollwork, or "spinach," that once decorated our covers gave way to thin black lines within the red rectangle (which, incidentally, was preceded by border stripes in different colors; an experimental orange was something less than a success after it first appeared on St. Patrick's Day, 1926, and a compensatory green was also short-lived). The thin lines were in turn eliminated. Now we are going one step further, reducing the red border by three-sixteenths of an inch. This gives the painting or photograph greater visual impact. To match it, the logotype has been made a degree bolder.

Changes inside the magazine have followed the same principles. Innovations adopted one by one since 1938 have included text and picture boxes that lend diversity to the makeup and a variety of headline widths that bespeak distinctions between stories. The longer story headings, along with a more generous use of pictures, made our old headline type seem a bit fragile, so we are making it slightly heavier, although we retain the same type family.

Captions are also being strengthened. Headlines and captions now become "flush left" instead of centered, and the margins become wider by one-fourth of an inch. The aim is to make our pages easier on the eye. The index now will have a permanent place on page 2 so that readers will not have to hunt for it. Section headings are being placed in either color or gray bars because . . . well, because the editors think they look better that way.

Rouge on venerable cheeks? Chrome instead of hallowed woodwork? We think not. To us, the changes are functional as well as aesthetic. They keep the looks of TIME current with its spirit, which was never antique.

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