"A self-described "rat pack" of five "food-loving journalists" just bought the trademark to the defunct food magazine Gourmet, updated it for the modern reader, and brought it back as an online newsletter-all without consulting the magazine's former publisher, Condé Nast. And if you didn't know that already, you might've been able to guess it from the publication's new wordmark. The logo looks nothing like what you'd expect from the magazine that shuttered in 2009."
"Instead of a crisp, delicate script, this wordmark is unapologetically blocky, chunky, and weird. It's more reminiscent of forgotten sheet pan drippings: certainly not pretty too look at, but more delicious than you'd expect. Introducing the modern Gourmet: It's pithy, recipe-obsessed, and designed for the home chef who's sick of brightly lit photos of one-pan dinners. A new, Substack-era food mag with no interest in being a crowd-pleaser"
"The idea to bring back the magazine began when former Los Angeles Times writer and Gourmet cofounder Sam Dean noticed something strange. "He called me and was like, 'Dude, I think I just figured something out,'" says graphic designer Alex Tatusian, another of the brand's cofounders. "'I'm on the U.S. Trademark Office site, and I'm pretty sure that Condé forgot to renew the trademark for Gourmet.'" Tatusian and Dean found three other collaborators, formed an LLC, and bought the trademark for a few thousand dollars."
Five food journalists acquired the lapsed Gourmet trademark, formed an LLC, and relaunched the brand as an online newsletter without consulting Condé Nast. The revived publication adopts a blocky, unconventional wordmark and rejects the delicate script of the original 2009 magazine. The new Gourmet emphasizes pithy writing, recipe obsession, and home cooking aesthetics that push back against glossy one-pan dinner photography. The founders discovered the lapse through the U.S. Trademark Office and purchased the mark for a few thousand dollars. The relaunch follows a broader trend of journalists leaving traditional outlets to build independent, creator-driven media ventures.
Read at Fast Company
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