Time.com Gets A Redesign, Along With New Ad Units

The new Time.com is here.

Well, it should be here for some of you, anyway. A spokesperson said that the first few users should see the new layout now, and it will continue rolling out tonight and tomorrow.

Time has been talking about the relaunch for months now, matching the talk with new hires (it has has made 35 new hires since April) and bringing on design studio Big Human.

Nancy Gibbs, who was named managing editor in September, said that the redesign is phase four or five of a longer term process — the magazine has already been placing a bigger emphasis on things like mobile and video, we can expect to see more changes in the months to come.

You can see the new homepage in the screenshot above. As news homepages go, it’s not all that radical. Gibbs described it as a “higher protein version” of the current homepage, one that’s able to accommodate more content in general, and more breaking news in particular, with the latest stories featured in the left rail, the most important current news highlighted in the central area called The Brief, and columnists and other features on the right.

Along with the new website come redesign sponsors (Citi, Siemens, and Advil), as well as new ad units. Any banner ad can now be “magnetized,” said Publisher Jed Hartman, meaning that when a reader clicks on them, it opens larger ad in the center of the screen, and different sections of the ad can be activated by clicking on different parts of the original unit. And like other publishers, Time is also offering native ads that are presented in the style of editorial content (but clearly marked as sponsored content). These aren’t the first native ads on Time.com, but Hartman said they had to be “retrofitted” for the site before — this time, they were incorporated into the “ground floor” of the redesign.

Oh, the ads have been moved to the left rail, which might sound like a minor change, but it makes them more prominent, Hartman said.

The site uses responsive design, so it will also work on tablets and smartphones. When I asked if some elements might be applied to Time’s mobile and tablet apps as well, Gibbs replied that it’s “the philosophy” that carries over: “We want the experience to be customized for the platform.”