The Daily Express is a British national newspaper first published in 1900 by Sir Arthur Pearson. Its visual identity is built around a typographic masthead and a distinctive knight figure, the crusader, which has appeared on the paper’s front page for nearly a century.
Design and History
The Daily Express was founded in 1900 by Cyril Arthur Pearson, publisher of Pearson’s Own and other titles.[1] The paper switched from broadsheet to tabloid format in 1977.[1] It was briefly renamed The Express in 1996, before reverting to The Daily Express in 2000.[1]
To coincide with its 100th birthday in 2000, the paper adopted a new, more contemporary look and reverted to its original name, The Daily Express. The new masthead and a cleaner design with standardised fonts appeared on Saturday 29 April 2000. Editor Rosie Boycott said of the revamp: “We decided to revert back to The Daily Express because that is how everybody refers to it,” adding that “the design changes will give the paper a fresher and more dynamic appearance.”[2]
The paper’s most recognisable emblem, the crusader, was adopted in 1929. Lord Beaverbrook, who owned the Express from 1916, launched his Empire Free Trade initiative that year, which led to the adoption of the famous logo of a crusader in a chainmail uniform with his sword drawn. The cause of Empire Free Trade faded in the 1930s, but the logo endured.[3] Beaverbrook chose the crusader as the paper’s symbol, and it was no coincidence: he was a great believer in the power of the press, describing it as “a flaming sword which will cut through any political armour.”[4]
In March 2021, reports emerged that the Daily Express was due to drop its famous crusader masthead, in place since the days of Max Beaverbrook and his Empire free trade campaign. The paper had already dropped its strapline “the world’s greatest newspaper” in 2018.[5]
Meaning and Symbolism
The crusader figure on the masthead is a direct link to the paper’s past. It was created by Lord Beaverbrook in 1929 when launching his “imperial crusade.”[6] The red crusader who bestrides the masthead of the Daily Express once symbolised the pride of the newspaper in the Empire.[7]
The Express has traditionally sported on its masthead a knight in armour with the cross of St George on his shield. In Scotland, however, the paper used a different logo: the Lion Rampant in red carrying a saltire, the cross of St Andrew, with the subtitle “Scottish and proud of it.”[8]
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