New home for MagDesigner.net

If you’re reading this, then you shouldn’t be. You see, this here blog is now old hat. It has been magically turned into www.MagDesigner.net

It’s bigger, better and a lot more blue. There are all the usual news stories and eMag round ups, but now the with the edition of platform reviews, eMag reviews, glossary and features with lots more content coming over the months.

It really is your one stop shop for all things to do with digital magazines.

This WordPress blog will more than likely be ignored from now on (you’ve been good to me though…)

So, get yer ass over there, bookmark it, subscribe, get rss feeds and remember to tell your friends about!

Click HERE!

The pic above is from this years Slovenian Advertising Festival (SOF). A little late with the upload, but that’s because ever since that day I’ve been moving country, so had a lot on my plate!

Over the next few weeks a new MagDesigner.net will take the place of this here blog and you will be more than pleased with what you see!

Away with the cheap as chips blog approach and in with the professional website, complete with reviews of all the major publishing platforms. Plus reviews of all the newest digital magazines, software packages and insider info on the exciting world of digital magazine publishing.

But between now and then, you’ll just have to settle for a picture of me doing my Steve Jobs impersonation!

Stay tuned…

If you have a few days to spare and are in the Toronto area of the world, than I recommend you get yer ass down to the MagNet2010 conference. With a host of speakers lined up over 4 days of publishing goodness you could do a lot worse than lending them an ear.

Click on the pic above for their site and more info.

One of Britain’s most popular handbag fillers Grazia, launched today with a very interesting marketing gimmick. If you buy the issue (or steal it) you can access special augmented reality content through use of a webcam or iPhone.

Simply go to a specific web address, hold the magazine up to a web cam and watch cover star Florence Welch come to life and sing & dance. It’s all very clever and it’s a grand marketing tool as this story has made all the news sites and will no doubt help shift a few more copies.

The interesting thing here is the iPhone compatibility. I have no doubt that augmented reality systems will make a big impact over the coming years, and devices such as the iPhone or Android capable phones seem to handle it pretty well. But when you can combine a 3G enabled mobile device with a print advert or piece of packaging we will start to see some truly innovative advertising concepts.

For more info regarding some possible augmented reality systems, check out this talk from TED.com

Zoom Zoom

Next up is the totally awesome Esprit eMag. Launched simultaneously in eight different countries and several different languages (a world first). Esprit is a new take on the eMag format, ditching the traditional facing pages aspect like a print mag and going for something much more contemporary. It rocks. One of the best examples of how this medium can be used to great benefit in a bid to advertise a brand and involve readers. Excellent photography, good editorial content and ideas and nice design. Also launched on the eDition platform, a testament to the versatility of their platform and developers.

Esprit eMag
Esprit website

Dennis Publishing have also launched a new issue of Sky Magazine Live a contract title for the overpriced television provider. Published on the Ceros platform it’s a nice magazine with tones of animation and interactivity. The video content is especially good, one of Dennis’ strong point is it’s in house video team that churn out some really great videos across multiple brands. The design is a bit too complicated, some pages are just overflowing, and it can be difficult to read at times but generally it’s a good eMag.

Sky Magazine Live

Claret and Blue I like. It’s made by a small team, it’s not too over the top and serves it’s purpose very well. Again published on eDition, it’s a bit garish and basic but is a great example of how eMags can serve sports magazines…

Claret and Blue

This years SOF (Slovenian Advertising Festival to us uneducated English speakers) kicks off next week. Amongst a host of top class speakers will be me! MagDesigner will be giving a 30 minute lecture on the future of digital magazine publishing, giving a unique and no doubt colorful insight into eMag publishing, specifically how to make them and how to make money from them.

So if you’re in the area, or if you’re bored and fancy a trip, hop on your good foot and get to Slovenia. It’s cheap to get there, they are the nicest people you could meet, the food is outrageously good and it’s as pretty as a picture.

I am speaking on Thursday 24th March at 2.15pm. Be there or be, er, somewhere else…

If you are going and want to meet up feel free to email me at editor@magdesigner.net

Visit the SOF website

So, in the first 5 days of going on pre-order sale, Apple’s “game changing” iPad has sold a whopping 153,000 units. At a minimum of $499 per iPad that is a very promising sign that the iPad will be the success Apple and magazine publishers are hoping for. Of course it’s early days and we could find out that it is in fact shite. However it’s pretty unlikely. Word on the street is good, an Oscar night TV ad caused a lot of publicity and the press is generally billing it is an impressive piece of kit.

There is still no UK date or price yet either, so that 153,000 is outside Europe only, and when it comes to digital magazines Europe is the world leader both in terms of quality and readership numbers. This could have a large impact on the sales of iPads.

I know I’ll be buying one as soon as they go on pre-order…

Apple iPad

If ever there was a band wagon worth jumping upon it must be the iPad.
Ceros Media, already leader in the digital magazine publishing market have announced there iPad concept is coming soon. The Application is very simple, basically just a PDF reader with video capability. How this will fair against the likes of Pixel Mags remains to be seen, but with Ceros’ impressive market share of digital mags it’ well worth keeping a beady little eye on.

As one title gets stored in a bleak garage (iMotor) 2 new eMags have sprung up in it’s place. Redwood have just launched Zoom Zoom USA, the American edition of their very good Mazda contract title. Also Barclays bank have launched Smart Living, another very well made eMag. Both titles have been published using the excellent eDition publishing software and platform.

Check ‘em out for yourself:

Zoom Zoom
Smart Living

Visit eDition at this years Publishing Expo (see below)