The Times iPad app @ EDO
The latest EDO event took place last night with a packed St Brides enoying a close-up look at the work of Jon Hill and his design team at The Times newspaper, coincidentally speaking just a couple of days before that papers digital offering disappears behind its much-heralded and controversial paywall.
Overmatter
A detail from the new Times website: about halfway down the home page there’s a clock featured as part of the engraving marking the ‘leading articles’ section. This engraving is a traditional part of the print edition, but here on the web the clock actually tells the real time. Nice!
While we’re on The Times, lots of coverage for the new websites: Eye points out its newspaper-like qualities in a positive fashion, while others question them for the same reason. And don’t even get people started on the paywall. Watch out for the next EDO event, featuring a close-up look at the soon-to-arrive iPad App from the same newspaper and design team. Perhaps that gives a clue to the new sites newspaper-like look?
The June issue of Creative Review includes my review of magazine iPad Apps to date.
It’s a tough life: footballer Christiano Ronaldo is apparently angry to have been Photoshopped together with rival Didier Drogba for the current Vanity Fair cover (see previous post).
The Preston is My Paris team have more publications out now, and have sorted PayPal for orders.
Jens has a close-up look at the latest issue of 032c.
Overmatter
Andrew is talking at Sofia Design Week, next month, accompanied by his exhibition ‘Objects as Magazines’.
The next EDO events takes place next Wednesday, 19 May. The Creative Review team discuss their recent redesign and the links between digital and print channels. Members £5, Non-members £15. Full details from edo@gillbranston.com.
That’s a busy night in London. On the same evening, the Frontline Club ask whether the iPad will save the news business.
The latest publication from Unit Editions is a newspaper about sixties arts magazines Form.
Vanity Fair announce their iPad App with slightly underwelming news that ‘Magazines are actually pretty brilliant concepts the way they are’.
Next EDO event announced
EDO takes a close up look at Creative Review’s recent redesign and its digital expansion, featuring the magazines editor and art director. It takes place from 6.30pm on May 19 at the Moving Picture Company, Wardour St, London W1F 0NL.
Members £5, Non-members £15. Full details from edo@gillbranston.com.
One step forward, two steps back
William Owen, self-styled sceptic at last week’s EDO/BSME iPad evening, has posted a precis of his talk, complete with the example projects he presented. It’s well worth a read.
He concludes that publishers should be ‘discovering what works well on the web that might not work in print, experimenting with new business models, collaborating with partner companies with different skills and assets, engaging closely with their audience (like the week Grazia produced itself form Westfield)… It’s not easy because it takes a new set of skills, a new culture and a different more agile attitude to development. That’s a world away from pouring pages into iPads’.
He’s right of course, the iPad is a double-edged sword. The technology is exciting, yet it is potentially a distraction from the real issues. Publishers can’t rely on the iPad as the silver bullet to resolve the industry’s problem with digital, yet judging from recent conversations I’ve had, that’s precisely what many are assuming will be the case.
EDO/BSME event: What’s on your iPad?
Apple unveiled the first iPad ad during the Oscar ceremony yesterday.
First up, disclosure: as EDO chair I helped set up last week’s combined EDO/BSME panel discussion about digital publishing. It was originally scheduled for last November, but the delay allowed the iPad announcement and subsequent speculation to convert an important subject into an essential one. It also allowed me to hand over the role of EDO chair to Simon Esterson, and meant I was in the audience at LCF and able to write this review.
The big iPhone
Apple have announced the iPad will go on sale in the US on April 3, with full-spec versions following at the end of April. Prices $429–$829. All versions will be available in the UK at the end of April, prices tbc.
Review of EDO/BSME event to follow
Overmatter
EDO/BSME iPad event SOLD OUT. There will not be any tickets available on the night.
Interview with Tim Clark from online photography magazine 1000 Words.
Monocle moves into profit, uses shop sales to fund expansion.
Photographer Colin Mulvany discusses the state of photojournalism today, ‘I predict these multimedia centric devices will need a steady stream of visual content’.
Ben talks us through his ad campaign for the relaunch of The Observer, including the TV spot recently featured here.
The next UK mail-out from Stack will include beautiful food title Fire&Knives. The magazine is hard to track down at present, this is a great way to get hold of a copy.
Talking of Stack, their blog has taken the print I designed for them as a starting point for a series of brief interviews with magazine makers about their favourite magazines.
EDO/BSME iPad event tickets selling fast
Next week EDO and BSME share an event about what the iPad means for our industry.
The big iPhone
The next EDO event is shared with BSME. A panel will discuss ‘What’s on Your iPad’, a look at how design and editorial are approaching digital magazines. Those involved include UK Wired editor David Rowan, Times Design Director Jon Hill and William Owen (author of ‘Modern Magazine Design’). The evening will be chaired by Juliet Warkentin, Content Director of WGSN.
US Wired leads a series of Condé Nast titles onto the iPad, planning a summer launch.
Meanwhile, Interview releases a concept video based on their iPhone app.
Publishers need information about their readers in a way music companies didn’t – The Financial Times highlights problems between publishers and Apple, centred less on money and more on data sharing.
‘Good apps need good design’. John-Henry Barac, designer of the Guardian iPhone app – one of my favourite and most-used apps – talks about his app and shares his initial thoughts on the iPad (link fixed).
Charlie Brooker offers his takes on the iPad (‘it’s an oblong box that lights up’) and eBooks (‘no one can see what you’re reading’).
