What is a magazine? Who publishes it? Who writes the content? Why do people read them? These questions will have very different answers as businesses innovate and new products are introduced. Publishers are suffering because their distribution platform is being replaced by the internet which levels the playing field, allowing anyone with minimal cost to become publishers. Individual journalists and content creators are in a powerful position, they're content is the soul of a publisher's product and they now have the ability to write whatever they want, whenever they want, without the need of a publisher to distribute it. How will these autonomous content creators, uninfluenced by a publishing entity, tell a quality story?
Design a platform whereby anyone can layout and publish a compelling, media rich story. You'll need an interface that demonstrates how one would layout and incorporate new and existing data on the web. Show examples of what published stories would look like in at least two different contexts. How will other people interact, edit, and comment? You will need personas for content creators and consumers that will access and publish on different contexts and platforms.
Research
Learn how existing services currently allow individuals to publish. Research services like Wordpress, Blogger, Local newspapers, Six Apart, and Posterous to get a feel for what's already available. Talk to reporters, bloggers, writers, and art directors to see what kinds of tools they need to publish a quality story. Make a list of items an author may want to include in their pieces. Examine how readers interact with published content.
Deliverables
The deliverables below will show how a piece is created by your author persona and how a piece is found and consumed by your reader persona.
- Interface showing the authors tools, menus, and queues necessary to start a piece.
- Interface showing an authors piece in progress.
- Published piece of content visible to readers for two contexts.
- Archive or homepage view showing multiple pieces of content for two contexts.
Dates
- Feb 09 - Project intro
- Feb 11 - Personas, scenarios, and research.
- Feb 16 - Sketches and wireframes.
- Feb 18 - Tight comps
- Feb 23 - Workday
- Feb 25 - Workday
- Mar 02 - Workday
- Mar 04 - Class critique
- Mar 09 - Workday
- Mar 11 - Due
Examples
- Rumored Microsoft Courier
- MS Courier example
- Max+ conecpt
- Apple iBooks for iPad
- Sports Illustrated Tablet Demo
- Art directed writing: Dustin Curtis
- Art directed writing: Jason Santa Maria
- Wired: Superfast Bullet Trains...
- Consistent UI
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