Magazines like Wired, Sports Illustrated, Bonnier and VIV Mag are rushing to present their vision of how a magazine might look on iPad or other digital platforms. Here are six of the demos: Is this the future of digital publishing? And which demo do you like the best?
Driven by the introduction of iPad, many publishers are now putting their best creative minds to think about how magazines can be published digitally in the best way. Publishers realize that just presenting a PDF version of their print magazine is no longer sufficient. Instead they need to find new and compelling ways of telling stories utilizing the opportunities presented by new technologies and platforms.
Here are some of the many demo videos that have been presented lately. More will be added later.
The first to present demo videos were Sports Illustrated and the Swedish media company Bonnier. Also Wired joined forces with Adobe in producing a prototype based on the platform agnostic Adobe Air. Adobe clearly hopes the prototype might be the basis for how other magazines can work on digital platforms as well.
Later a number of magazines have presented their visions for the future of digital magazines. They include VIV Mag, Interview Magazine and Marie Claire.
So what do you think? Is this the future of magazine publishing? Which of these demos do you like the best? Will users be willing to pay for magazines in these formats?
I would love to hear your thoughts on this.
The Sports Illustrated Demo
The Bonnier Demo
The VIV Demo
VIV Mag Featurette: A Digital Magazine Motion Cover and Feature for the iPad from Alexx Henry on Vimeo.
The Marie Claire Demo
Interview Magazine Demo
For a good overview of the current status of e-readers and the publishing industry I recommend Mashable’s article “Can E-readers and Tablets Save the News?”
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
For advertisers, the most important thing is the search capability of these new platforms. The current digital publishing programs are dismal when it comes to search results. We’re the first online magazine in our category and we went with Joomla, which is awesome for search. It helps Shotgun Life achieve out click-through rate of about 880% higher than the average in the US as established by DoubleClick.
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I can’t wait to begin designing for this new publication platform!
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Yes these might be showing us the padpublished magazines of tomorrow. But I don’t think they are the padpublished magazines of this afternoon which probably is a better image of the timeline we’re talking about. Existing magazines will not be able to implement this kind of layouts with their existing production lines. To be able to make editions like this previous print magazines would have to stop print production imediately. And that will not happend. For a while magazines will publish both print and pad versions, and in the beginning the pad versions will probalby have the same layout as the print versions. But of course, competition between magazines and the internal want for innovation will change the digital layouts and incorporate more and more digital effects.
Here are the three most talked about demos of how future magazines might look like.
This comment was originally posted on Reddit
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One frustration that a lot of people have with the internet is that there is TOO much information to move through. In a book, you know you’re getting everything. You are NEVER getting all of the info on the internet. Read one blog and there are thousands of others on the subject that are not readily available. You can’t get the same sense of closure or satisfaction that you are informed that you can from a book. The LIMITS enhance the reader’s understanding of the experience. The internet leaves us fragmented which is why the current generation has the least identifiable distinguishing characteristics than any other. We’re all fragmented- just a mash up of everything we collect in a way that other generations weren’t.
Yes, the drama of the images seems like it can be translated to the the IPAD but it disturbs me that there are so many little links. CUT?? Cut what?? Where are you pasting it? Why would you need to? That little bar tool that shows you how much reading you have left? It’s only going to further decrease our attention spans and our ability to process knowledge. People will find it nerve-wracking, like they are never going to get through all of it, like it’s not going fast enough. Essentially, it’s an INTERRUPTION in the reading experience which should be imbued with a natural flow, a consistency that lasts from beginning to end. You CANNOT engage in an article the way you can with a tangible page that you can hold. I don’t care if he SAYS you can. The little page markers on the side are only offer minimal comfort.
I watched this video praying for enlightenment but it did not deliver. Do not tell me that I am only concerned because “I love books!” Yes I do believe there is a sensuality to tangible pages that cannot be reproduced through a multi-media experience. Ever. But, I’m foremost concerned with the fact that our technological capabilities are destroying our race’s attention spans and our ability to process information. They are making us more impatient, and extremely fragmented. We are destroying ourselves from the inside out. If you have children, watch how they emerge in the society. We are absolutely going to regret this.
This comment was originally posted on Publishing Talk
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