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The National Magazine Company is to maintain the up-market

positioning of Esquire in a major redesign to be unveiled in its June

issue.

The redesign is the work of newly installed art director Ian Pendleton,

and is in keeping with the up-market stance taken by the title's editor

Peter Howarth.

Pendleton, who took over from Christophe Gouans six weeks ago, has

slashed the number of graphics inside the magazine, reducing the number

of sidebars, coloured panels and boxes that are characteristic of the

lads' marketplace. The new look Esquire will also feature a more elegant

headline typeface, a new 'guest speaker' rant by a celebrity writer and

a carnal knowledge column from the media commentator Karen

Krisanovich.

'Lads' mags are full of lists and there's very little continuous prose,'

Howarth said. 'This change makes us look more grown-up and even less

like GQ and Loaded.'

The June issue features a cover shot of Kate Beckinsale that departs

from the closely cropped headshots that have characterised Esquire

covers for the past 18 months.

Esquire's circulation fell 39 per cent year on year to 61,271 in the

latest ABCs, continuing the decline that followed Howarth's decision to

ban fleshy cover models. However, the magazine's ad revenue has

increased over the last year, with the 10th anniversary April issue

giving it its highest number of ad pages in its history.