Vintage Classics unveils 'major' redesign of red spine

Books by Marjane Satrapi, Roberto Bolaño, Amy Tan and Jeanette Winterson will be published in the Vintage Classics red spine, which will undergo a "major" redesign on 4th July.

Twenty newly jacketed titles will be publishing in the "eclectic launch list", including 10 books already published in the red spine and 10 titles new to the list.

Supported by a publicity and marketing campaign, the publisher said that the launch will mark "an ambitious and exciting new era for Vintage Classics’ publishing". New titles to the list include Bolaño’s The Savage Detectives (Picador), which was recently acquired by Vintage Classics, as well as Satrapi’s Persepolis, Tan’s The Joy Luck Club, Winterson’s Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit and Christy Brown’s My Left Foot.

The red spine redesign launch has been project managed by Vintage Classics senior editor Charlotte Knight, Vintage brand director Ruth Waldram and Vintage creative director Suzanne Dean. The resulting design aims to balance "flexibility of individual cover design with a newly consistent modern layout and typeface".

"The red spines were launched in 2007, so it is absolutely time to update and revitalise the Vintage Classics grid," Dean said. "Whilst it was important not to abandon all we had achieved in the last 17 years, the Vintage Design team wanted the new design to signal a distinct step forward. The new layout brings our iconic red into the front and back cover template, strengthening the Vintage Classics brand, while allowing plenty of room for imagery on the front cover."

Nick Skidmore, publishing director at Vintage Classics, added: "With an incredible, eclectic launch in July, and a renewed focus on the importance of the red spine and the authors it embraces, 2024 sets the stage for the next exciting era for Vintage Classics."