TAKEAWAY: If you have not done so already, take a look at these apps: CNN and Roadtrip. They are functional, attractive and easy to use.
They must have just joined the iTunes store during the Christmas holidays, and I may have missed them because it was a hectic period when I confess that my iPad stayed connected but dark more often than it had my fingers on it.
So what a surprise it was to discover these two apps, the one for CNN, the news network, and Roadtrip, a magazine about travel that is a joy to look at on the iPad.
These are two very different apps, as they should be.
CNN’s banks on images and headlines to get our attention, which it does. It has a simple drop navigator to lead us to various topics, i.e. sports, entertainment, news. It has a section for profiles, one for videos,
and what I think is most significant: although it has the CNN logo, it is not a clone of CNN the television network. It enhances what it does there, but it recognizes that the iPad is not a television set.
Roadtrip: classy, fun
If you like travel by car Roadtrip may be the next app you wish to download.
The texture of this app is purely magazinish. Published by the Swedish group,Bonnier, the app’s concept comes from editor, Matt Phenix, with design
by Mike Bessier; creative director and brand director, Chris Tauber was the app’s architect.
Look for elegant design details, as opposed to the bare bones screens that populate so many newspaper and magazine ads.
Take a look also at the way advertising weaves into the texture of the magazine, with images that are as attractive as those of the features they accompany.
TheMarioBlog post #693