Back to the Future

THEL OLDER I get, the truer the phrase "Everything old is new again" gets. By now. looking for a new wardrobe. I can't do much better than finding a classic pair of jeans and making sure they fit.

Similarly, to update a 96-year-old institution such as Reader’s Digest, we knew we needn’t reinvent the wheel. Better to walk down the hall to the magazine’s windowless archive and steal inspired old wheels.

That really is how we created the updated version of the magazine you’re reading now. Working through the dusty stacks, creative director Courtney Murphy came upon a 1951 issue with a border around the headlines (shown above, left) that felt intelligent and approachable in its midcentury design. She played with it a bit and turned it into the frame that surrounds the names of all our departments—a gift from RD from nearly 70 years ago.

Imagining a new food section, we turned to the

1960s-era series I Am Joe's Body (above right), which was written from the perspective of Joe's (or Jane’s) spleen, heart, and 34 other body parts. Clever and deeply researched, it was curiously hard to put down. I Am the Food on Your Plate, on page 45, lifts the format into the 21st century, with a food narrating its science and history.

You’ll find reclamations everywhere: To buttress our health coverage, we simply added a page to the 56-year-old News from the World of Medicine; to judge our Nicest Places search, we turned to a 2013 cover story featuring America’s most trusted newsperson: Robin Roberts.

If we’ve done our recovery work well, RD is better today for inviting back the best of yesterday. Enjoy the new look, and

please tell us what you think.