The Mario Blog

02.22.2013—5am    Post #1621
New Huffington Post for iPad worth taking a look; Newsweek in print lives abroad

TAKEAWAY: It is a modern, vibrant new iPad edition for Huffington Post PLUS: International edition of Newsweek still appears in print!

TAKEAWAY: It is a modern, vibrant new iPad edition for Huffington Post PLUS: International edition of Newsweek still appears in print!

This is the weekend edition of TheMarioBlog and it will be updated as needed. Next blog post is Monday, February 25

Update #2, Saturday, Feb. 23, Dubai, 14:47

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First, customize your own menu according to topics of interest: Favorites

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Opening lead story screen

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Opening of section

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Article read screen: clean, easy to use, friendly

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Flipboard style navigator makes it easy to spot stories of interest

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One great strategy: use of faces, which become best visual navigators

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It is refreshing to see the new Huffington Post for iPad app which I believe is one of the first 4.5 versions of a news app.

Gone are the bells and whistles that characterized those now antiquated early news iPad editions, where designers would drag every trick that was possible in the new platform, overwhelming users, overloading the app and, in many cases, prioritizing everything but functionality. In a sense, we are all guilty of this, a combination of enthusiasm and discovery.

In 2013, however, the landscape is quite different.

What have we learned that we see applied in this Huff Post for iPad new version? We know more about what users come to the tablet for:

Lean back mode: Users want to have a lean back experience, as opposed to the more spontaneous and in short bursts use of mobile telephones, for example

Ease of Navigation: This is top priority, a clearly defined, uncomplicated navigation (preferably via pictures or what I call the Flipboard approach). I like that the Huff Post for iPad does not make you search for navigation buttons.

It is intuitive.

An easy reading experience: Users prefer clean article pages (this is where the tablet simulates the reading experience of print, and where white space, clean typography and elegant design are key). I particularly like how the new Huff Post app creates a very appealing environment in which to read an article, with ample white space to the left of the text, and those useful buttons to share the piece.

Watching photos/videos: We also know the importance of photos and videos. Very specifically, we know that faces constitute the best click and go navigators.

Well, the new Huffington for the iPad version that is now ready for download excels in all of these areas.

It is, for all practical purposes, a textbook case study. If I were writing my digital book, iPad Design Lab: Storytelling in the Age of the Tablet, today, this new app, designed by the talented Josh Klenert would be prominently displayed. So let this blog post be an update!

Josh Klenert writes about his experience designing the new iPad edition of The Huffington Post.

Highlight:

Over seven-plus years, The Huffington Post has added dozens of verticals, expanded to five international editions, and publishes hundreds of multimedia stories each day. How do you pack that into an app experience and make it easy and fast to use?

The answer is presented visually in this vibrant and easy to navigate app with a feel of a modern magazine, but also with the immediacy of a news app.

From a design perspective, this new app could not be simply a fresh coat of paint. We wanted to get out of the readers way and let you dive in as quickly as possible. We kept referring to it as a “no instructions required” approach: we wanted an app that was so intuitive, we would not have to add a complex “how-to” screen when users entered the app for the first time.

Maintaining typographic continuity thru the Huff Post digital products

We have observed with interest how the various HuffPost digital products show typographic consistency, so I asked Josh to elaborate. Here is what he tells me:

Across our three iPad apps—HuffPost, HuffPost Live and Huffington magazine—we are using a core set of webfonts. We’re using Ibis for body text, and Benton Sans for for display in HuffPost and HuffPost Live. These fonts have been drawn to be highly legible for digital screens by Font Bureau.

During the development of the app, we utilized a traditional edit/design collaboration to get to the core goals and flow of the app. When it came time for hands on development, we embedded our lead designer side-by-side with the mobile development team and we saw a huge spike in efficiency and collaboration. I can’t recommend this technique more highly. Daniel Lee, our designer, attended daily stand-ups with the iOS developers and we’re able to quickly solve issues that came up going from high fidelity mocks to working prototypes.

Download the new Huffington Post for iPad here:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/huffington-post-for-ipad/id376304186?mt=8

Still a Newsweek edition you can touch (internationally)

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Printed edition of Newsweek appears internationally: distributed widely at hotels, airline lounges and in flight

Just when I thought I would never see another issue of Newsweek magazine in the flesh, as in its printed edition, what a surprise to find it here in Paris. As it happens, Newsweek ceased its print edition for the United States, but it maintains a print presence internationally.

The covers of those international print editions for the past few weeks have matched those used for the iPad edition in the US.

One sees the printed international edition of Newsweek distributed at airport lounges, hotels and in flight.

Good to see that there is still print life for this newsweekly.

Where’s Mario until March 2, 2013?

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Mario’s upcoming speaking engagements

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Take advantage of our iPad Design/Ad Lab workshops

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Do you want to take your brand to the next level by creating a tablet edition? Garcia Media can help. We now offer one- to two-day iPad Design Lab workshops on demand to jumpstart your presence on this exciting new platform. We also offer iPad Ad Lab workshops to develop engaging advertising models for your app. Contact us for more information.

Purchase the book on the iBookstore

iPad Design Lab has been given the QED Seal

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The QED (Quality–Excellence–Design) Seal is bestowed by the judges of the Publishing Innovation Awards after “a thorough, professional 13-point design review with an eye towards readability across multiple devices and in multiple formats.”

Learn more about the QED Seal here.

The EPUB version of book is HERE:

Now available: The EPUB version of  iPad Design Lab: Storytelling in the Age of the Tablet, ready for download via Amazon.com for Kindle:

http://tinyurl.com/8u99txw

Here is how you can get iPad Design Lab book:

The original version of the book is the multitouch textbook version available on the iBookstore for iPad (iOS 5.0 and up): 
https://itunes.apple.com/book/ipad-design-lab/id565672822

This version includes video walkthroughs, audio introductions to each chapter, swipeable slideshows, a glossary and a sophisticated look and feel.

Apple only sells multitouch textbooks in certain countries at this time, unfortunately. Copies are available in at least the following countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, and the United States.

For those in other countries and without an iPad, we have made the book available in a basic edition for other platforms. This basic edition includes the full text of the original, along with the images and captions, but lacks the other features such as audio and video. It is available on the following platforms in many countries:

Amazon Kindle: 
http://amzn.to/SlPzjZ

Google Books: 
http://bit.ly/TYKcew

Take a video tour of iPad Design Lab

“iPad Design Lab” trailer on Vimeo.

Read the Society of Publication Designers’ review of The iPad Design Lab here:

http://www.spd.org/2012/10/must-read-ipad-design-lab.php

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Keep up with Mario Garcia Jr.. via Garcia Interactive: helping transform online news since 1995.

www.garciainteractive.com

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