The Indian Express refreshes its print identity for the digital age

The Indian Express has unveiled a refreshed look for its print edition, marking a major design overhaul for the 93-year-old newspaper. Rolled out on November 5, the redesign brings a cleaner, more contemporary layout with clearly defined story boundaries, generous white space, and a bolder typeface.

The masthead has been modernised, and new panels have been introduced to make the pages more structured and visually engaging. The redesign is aimed at enhancing the reading experience and making it easier for the reader to find the stories and sections that matter to them. 

But the redesign goes beyond aesthetics. It reflects a deeper editorial rethink shaped by real-time granular insights into how readers engage with the brand.

The Express team found that its audience most values original reporting, long-form investigations, expert explainers, and thoughtful opinion pieces — and the new design seeks to give these greater visibility.

Content has been restructured accordingly: the Editorial and Ideas pages now feature up to seven opinion pieces instead of the earlier two or three, and every section carries at least one special or exclusive story highlighted prominently on the page.

Speaking to afaqs!, Raj Kamal Jha, Chief Editor of The Indian Express, says the guiding principle behind the redesign was simple – to give readers more of what they value, presented in a way that’s easier and more engaging to read.

The redesign, Jha says, was born out of months of newsroom discussions as The Indian Express sharpened its digital focus post-pandemic.

“The redesign tries to meet readers where they already are. They know the headlines before they sleep. What they turn to The Indian Express for is why it matters, what lies beneath, what’s hidden, and what’s at stake. Our task is to make that experience—in print or in the e-paper—sharper, deeper, and easier to enter,” he says.

As newspapers compete with social media for attention, relevance has become a tougher battle. Jha acknowledges that a printed page may never match the allure of a screen but says it can offer something far rarer: “reporting that fills the huge gaps social media leaves.”

The redesign was done entirely in-house, with each section collaborating with the design and editorial teams to rethink how stories should be told. “Express redesign is not something you outsource; it’s an expression of a newsroom’s values,” he says.

Jha calls the new look a reaffirmation of the brand’s promise to its readers: every section will now feature at least one special or exclusive story daily, a regular investigative calendar, an expanded Explained section bringing experts into the newsroom, and an Opinion and Ideas section showcasing a wider range of voices and subjects.

“Many readers say the physical paper — and even the e-paper — serves as a trusted filter amid the noise online. They value the assurance of a product crafted by a newsroom with over 92 years of credibility and 1,500 people, including editors with over four decades of experience, behind each edition. It’s a carefully curated experience, not one driven by algorithms, and the redesign reinforces that,” Jha says.

The redesign, he adds, isn’t just about giving existing readers more of what they value; it’s also about reaching new ones. It aims to appeal to an audience seeking depth, fairness, accuracy, and credibility in an age of hyper-partisan bubbles.

“We firmly believe that in a growing India, where technology spreads at a remarkable scale, and where deep inequalities coexist with aspiration, the need for an independent, trustworthy, non-partisan source of journalism will only grow stronger,” Jha says.

At the same time, The Indian Express has seen a growing segment of web-first readers who access news directly through its website or app. Nearly 95% of its online audience consumes content on mobile.

“The e-paper audience is small but very important. Typically, someone who reads the e-paper has also read the physical paper at some point,” says Nandagopal Rajan, chief operating officer, Indian Express Digital.

Around 25% of the publication’s readership now comes from outside India. “We serve two broad international audiences — the Indian diaspora, whose interests are naturally tied to home, and a global audience that turns to us as a window into India’s politics, economy, and society,” Rajan adds.

This is The Indian Express’s first major design overhaul since 2014, when it introduced the Explained and Ideas pages. The previous redesign was in 1996, when the newspaper adopted a new masthead. 

The Hindu and The Hindu Business Line also underwent their redesign in 2022, describing it as an ‘Instagram-style’ of storytelling to appeal to digital-first readers.

Yet, Jha remains confident that print will endure the social media onslaught. Beyond its credibility and depth, he says, print offers something that screens cannot — the “thrill of serendipity”.

“The tactile newspaper offers something digital platforms can’t. Online, algorithms trap us in our preferences, but a good newspaper surprises us. You open it for one story and end up reading another you didn’t expect. That’s how understanding grows, by stepping outside the comfort of your feed. The element of surprise, the pleasure of discovery, and the thoughtful hierarchy of news are what keep print valuable,” he says.

“Print also means we cannot shoot and scoot. When fake news is all around us, print’s message is simple: we are accountable daily. We can’t and won’t hide when we make mistakes; we’ll own up and correct them. That builds trust,” he adds.

The newsgroup is now extending this refreshed design language to its digital platforms. Key sections like Politics, Explained, and Opinion already reflect the new look, with others gradually following.

“Our core sections now share a common design language across print and digital, and that’s intentional. We want both platforms to feel connected so readers instantly recognise the Express identity,” says Rajan.