Magazine Website Design for the Digital Publishing Future
As publishers begin to select their mobile magazine workflow platforms, we can see that the future tablet magazine and smartphone mobile editions will be an integral component of the modern magazine brand. While the tablet and digital publishing workflows will provide dynamic methods of presenting the digital magazine design, the magazine web design will be important as the core magazine website is the brand destination for access and selection of these innovative magazine editions.
Magazine Website Design Considerations
For publishers evaluating mobile and digital magazine publishing options it’s also important to consider how the multiple magazine formats will be presented from the magazine’s brand hub -the magazine website. Magazine publishers can begin their magazine website redesign projects with consideration for how additional emedia and brand extension elements will dramatically evolve over the next few years.
For most magazine web designs, we seek to utilize the 960px grid system width to optimize the magazine website presentation for iPad and other mobile and tablet devices. This general portrait magazine website design also allows for a controlled and highly optimized homepage presentation to support brand aspects of the print magazine design.
The overall publishing business model will drive how publishers position and promote their mobile and digital brand extension elements from the magazine website. Premium and paid content elements (or apps) drive direct incremental publishing revenue but circulation and audience development digital strategies appear to build longer term integrated media advertising revenue capabilities.
We view the website as the magazine brand core for most consumer and B2B titles, even if the majority of revenue is still derived from print magazine revenue today. Increasingly the magazine audience and other visitor profile groups seek value and entertainment from their visit to the magazine publication website. Delivering a website user experience that provides a unique brand style impression and delivers value should be paramount to the revenue projection of a micro conversion (or paid content) strategy. There’s value in website visitors even if they aren’t print magazine subscribers yet.
Organizing relevant brand extension communication channels to the core magazine niche audience from the website will give your visitor the option to connect on their terms. Allowing these readers to choose how they interact with the magazine, via enewsletter, social media, website, digital edition, magazine apps, and yes, even the print magazine edition will enable the publisher to develop the magazine digital audience on engagement terms appropriate to the specific user choice and their personal technology adoption phase.
Modern Magazine Digital Publishing Tools
Here are some examples of digital magazine design tools and the modern magazine editions that are now changing they way readers receive their magazine issue.
WoodWing Tablet Publishing for iPad and Android
Adobe Digital Publishing Magazine Workflow
As we watch these and other innovative digital magazine design tools develop for the magazine publishing industry, we encourage publishers to also consider the magazine website design strategy that will be the online foundation for presenting these digital editions. We design the magazine publication website to be memorable & valuable, and position the new brand extension revenue generating elements as the next step for the visitors that have achieved this trust and value from the magazine website visit experience.
Stephen G. Barr, Publisher
May 26, 2011 7:11 PMI just stumbled upon your site today and am very pleased with what I see and will be in touch soon!