Details Magazine Gets a Makeover

by David Lipke

The March issue of Details will wear a new look when it hits newsstands on Feb. 15, including fresh layouts and the introduction of a section focused on health and fitness, called The Body. “It’s not a full redesign; it’s a necessary polish,” explained editor in chief Dan Peres of the 194-page issue — which for the first time has models rather than a celebrity on the cover to emphasize the new focus on fitness.

“We wanted a cover that would really resonate and look a little different than the norm,” said Peres of cover boys Sean O’Pry, Arthur Kulkov and Noah Mills. “Model covers are so rarely done — largely because they’re not a very popular newsstand driver, I’m not blind to that — however I actually believe this will be one of our better selling issues of the year.”

The new Body section is 13 pages and includes stories on a celebrity workout; a requisite 30-days-to-better-abs routine in calendar form (with an online feature that sends weekly schedules to your PDA), and a nutrition article.

“I’m late to the game, admittedly,” said Peres of The Body section, pointedly praising the powerful franchise Men’s Health has built around this zone. “But I think we’ve done it in a way that mirrors the Details lifestyle — it’s refined and polished.”

The Body is overseen by new senior editor Tyler Graham, a veteran of Rodale and O: The Oprah Magazine, who has a book coming out later this year called “The Happiness Diet: How Eating Real Food Will Build a Better Brain.”

The book’s new design elements were overseen by Nathalie Kirsheh, who joined Details this winter as design director, a new position at the title. The title’s Dossier section, which included interviews and short features, has been eliminated.

Details was down 1.4 percent in ad pages last year to 777, but the dip is a big leveling off after the 35.5 percent decline in 2009, according to Media Industry Newsletter figures. Still, the magazine has some heavy lifting to do in order to climb back to prerecession levels, when it sold 1,369 pages in 2007.

“If I’m really honest with you, I’d switched on auto pilot. But I’ve started to drive again and it feels good,” said Peres. Looking ahead, Details will launch a revamped Web site in April and an iPad app in September.