The future of digital magazines: Mag+
Mel Exon
18/12/2009
https://web.archive.org/web/20100422033127/http://vimeo.com/8217311
We were stopped in our tracks by this concept video from the design consultancy Berg for Bonnier R&D. There is a fluidity and beauty to the design that suggests a significant step forward from the first generation, ‘push button’ e-readers. We particularly liked the fact the prototype (which makes its debut around 1 minute in) suggests it has been designed to create a better reading experience, as opposed to recreating slavishly the experience of reading a magazine. Not that this has been ignored: Berg make the point that magazines still arrive in separate issues, for the simple reason that “people like the sense of completion at the end of each.”
You move through the magazine by scrolling articles placed side-by-side (they call it a ‘mountain range’) and whilst they were aiming to create a “a space for quiet reading. It’s pleasant to have an uncluttered space”, you can heat up the words and pics to share, comment, and to dig into supplementary material. It certainly seems a logical and neat way to resolve the oft-discussed need to balance our thirst for more, more, more information, with the requirement to concentrate on one thing from time to time.
If you’ve been following the fortunes of e-readers, none of this may sound particularly radical. The bit that’s impressive is the execution. And, in their own words, Bonnier are interested in “sparking a discussion around the digital reading experience in general, and digital reading platforms in particular.”
That discussion is certainly happening. Aside from the general rants and evangelism, there are more balanced points of view on the topic, not to mention an excellent follow-up post here from Tim Maly at Bookfuturism that examines the operational, production process piece missing (possibly inevitable at concept stage…) and why it’s important. Well worth the read. There’s clearly huge scope for development: our own Richard Schatzberger notes the multimedia opportunities haven’t been looked at deeply enough. “The move to magtabs will start to break down the barriers between web broadcast and print. Live news playing inside the article about the same subject, your friends opinions connected to the content, live audio conversations about the story as you read it (like being in a coffee shop and hearing everyone talk about an article in the times).”
Either way, we liked the concept and we look forward to seeing where Berg and Bonnier take it. One thing is for sure:
“Ebook readers will be completely different in 2020. And paperback books will in all likelihood still be very much around, and pretty much the same.” Comment from tcarmody on Bookfuturism’s “Nostalgic Myopia” post
Here’s the introductory post in full from Matt Webb, MD of Berg London.
Thanks to James Higgs (@higgis) for pointing us in the direction of the articles above, not to mention the discussions he’s been sparking of his own.
7 comments on “The future of digital magazines: Mag+”
João Oliveira Simões Said (December 19, 2009 at 12:46 pm)
WOW! Very good! Please make it happen!
Ben Kunz Said (December 21, 2009 at 12:35 am)
Mel, very nice overview. The real question is whether publishers, now dying, can use a new platform to try to get readers to pay — avoiding the mistake they made on the web where everything now drives to the price point of free.
You might enjoy the Sports Illustrated prototype as well, which shows more use of video and interactivity, here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntyXvLnxyXk&feature=player_embedded
Mel Exon Said (December 22, 2009 at 1:20 am)
Ben, thanks for sharing the Sports Illustrated link - it does help demonstrate in more detail how digital navigation can actually improve the user experience of a magazine - more personalised, richer, more intuitive, faster.
To your point about getting people to pay in the land of the free…thank you for raising such a key question. I think it’s fascinating that the answer is ‘create another platform’. The tablets present a very seductive solution to the media owner - premium-looking and, if they get the relationship right with manufacturers, very controllable in terms of format, UX, cost etc. Equally, I know I’m not alone in being fairly convinced Apple will make us, the citizens, fall deeply and irrevocably in love with the idea of carrying an A4 sized device around in our bags on a daily basis. Probably just in time for the holidays, end 2010. It’ll be so much more than just high quality, mobile multi-media content. It could change our lives, just like the iPod changed how we listen to music. I can imagine video calls (literally a ‘window on my world’) and augmented reality stuff *actually getting adopted*.
That said, I am always a bit sceptical whenever I read statements like the one below:
“E-paper e-readers will be one of the major disruptive technologies of the early 21st century,” said the report’s author, Nick Hampshire, “it will change the nature of publishing and related print industries forever, ushering in a host of innovative ways to present, market, and distribute content.”
“Yup. Maybe” is my instinctive first reaction. Truth is though, I absolutely can imagine a time when we regard reading a book or magazine as antiquated as reading a scroll. For me, it boils down to one thing: people will pay - in droves - for something that transforms their experience for the better. Anything less and we stay with what we’ve got (my near non-existent relationship with my Kindle is all the evidence I can conjure at this point in the evening, but hopefully you get the idea).
Final point on this - my fascination with this is partially down to the fact the solution strikes me as a pretty dramatic strike against the egalitarian, open culture that’s grown up around the web. Removing content from circulation (content that used to be free or cost a few dollars in hardcopy) and selling it back exclusively via what might eventually drop to a $200+ device - is that progress? I guess we’ll see.
Tattoo Projects Born to Blog » Magazines Digitized Said (December 30, 2009 at 10:19 pm)
[...] device appears to be a flat tablet where you can touch the screen to turn the pages. Check out BBH Labs to read more about [...]
Mel Exon Said (January 3, 2010 at 11:03 pm)
Have to record this blog post by John Gruber on the Apple tablet here, thanks @bigspaceship for the spot: http://j.mp/718EVR
Quick Links: December 18, 2009 | Hello~ Body Health Said (February 8, 2010 at 6:23 am)
[...] The Future of Digital MagazinesBBH Labs has an interesting post on ebook technology and how it might affect the future of magazines. [...]