If iPads are on the holiday gift lists of many, the tablet itself is definitely the mind of more and more print magazine editors in higher education.
After online versions, social media channels and mobile versions, iPad applications (or should I say solutions) have become the next thing to get for people in charge of institutional or alum magazines.
While the Responsive Web Design approach I mentioned earlier might be the cross-device silver bullet for all the digital versions of magazines as well, I recently came across an easy-to-use and not prohibitvely expensive solution to get the sought-after iPad app for the institutional magazine.
I spotted GradMags website a few weeks ago and sent a few questions via their contact form. I later talked to Al Lilly, Academic Development Director at GradMags, who put me in contact with Cory Leary, Assistant Director of Communications at McCombs School of Business, one of the first schools with a live GradMags iPad App.
What I found interesting in this solution is the simplicity of the process.
It’s really built with the busy magazine editor in mind as the iPad (that works with smaller devices too) version of the magazine is created from a high-resolution PDF file, a by-product of the print magazine production process. It is also integrated with the major social major channels and will even redirect readers to your onilne donation form if they feel the urge to give online.
I don’t know if this is a result of this editor-centered approach or not, but I found that the app (and especially the whole downloading process of new issues) could be streamlined, more user-friendly and basically quicker. Yet, this solution is in an early stage of its development and it looks like GradMags is open to incorporate feedback from the community in its design process.
You can get the web version for free. The iPad solution including the app, the digital conversion, updates, unlimited downloads and support comes with a $3,000 flat fee along with about $600 per digital issue – which placed it for the majority of the cases around $4,200 for 2 issues for the 1st year and a $1,200 yearly fee later. Not a steal, but nothing to break the bank when compared to print publication budgets.
McCombs School of Business launched its magazine iPad app based on the GradMags platform, just a few weeks ago and Cory Leary was kind enough to answer a few questions about it so you can learn more about McCombs experience with this solution.
1) Why did you choose to create an iPad version of your magazine?
We were interested in exploring iPad options as another avenue for sharing our content, but we hadn’t gotten to it yet (sound familiar?). At the last couple of CASE conferences I’d attended there were some good presentations from schools that had taken the plunge, so we were in the early stages of researching companies and app features. GradMags, which had engaged an undergraduate marketing class at McCombs to help them with a project, came to us with a proposal for using their product. They were interested in using McCombs as a pilot project, along with another university, and their process was pretty easy.
2) How does this version integrates in your current print and online publishing workflow?
GradMags’ workflow is very easy. We send them a high-res PDF of the issue and provide additional links to web-extra content, which they embed in the PDF. It’s not a fully designed iPad magazine like Wired or The Daily, but it’s a nicely functional and enhanced PDF that allows us to tie extra content to the print addition without much extra work from our staff or our designers.
3) You’ve just launched the iPad app. How did you promote it so far?
It launched just before our Advisory Council met in October, so we were delighted to give them a demo of the brand-new app. We’ve also included an “ad†for the app in our monthly alumni newsletter and will include it in our school home page carousel. When the next issue publishes in April, we’ll including an ad or screen shot to direct readers of the print edition to the app, and we’ve discussed the possibility of a direct-mail postcard campaign, which could promote all of our sites (McCombsToday.org, TexasEnterprise.org, and the Open magazine app).
4) What has been the response from your readers and constituents so far? How many times has the app been downloaded?
Because we’ve just launched and haven’t begun a real promotion campaign yet, the response has been quiet so far (we’ve had 136 downloads as of Nov. 13). As we prepare the next issue of the magazine, we’re considering the app as part of the suite of delivery “channels†(print, along with the website and now iPad app), and it’s influenced some of the content types we’re considering (e.g., making a plan for a video to accompany a story, knowing that the integration of the media in the app will provide an enhanced reading experience).
Thanks for this interesting overview, Karine. I think this kind of approach represents a tiny, incremental step in the evolution of digital content for existing publications.
I am reading between the lines a bit, but I had the same reaction I think you did, as reflected in your comment about “the editor-centered approach.” It may be effective in the short run to base a publication *process* on the editor’s needs and constraints, but in the longer term, it’s more important to base the publication *overall* on the needs of readers. Traditionally, this means worrying about content, design, tone and style.
Now, with the introduction of new (digital) platforms, it means worrying about all that, PLUS interface, external content (links), up-to-date-ness, and for many users, novelty. I.e., how and in what ways does the new publication reflect the capabilities embodied in the digital (versus analog) nature of the product? The best print magazine in the world can be delivered via PDF, but we already can do that. At bottom, there’s nothing new about the magazine itself, and until it’s completely re-conceptualized for digital interaction, there won’t be.
Thanks again, great write-up and topic.
I agree, Andy. Magazines do need to be rethought (re-imagined) so they can best use the new (and old) media to attract, retain and utlimately serve their readers.
In the meantime, I see this option as a quick (and not too expensive) solution to a current problem editors have to face.
Thanks for so much focus on Responsive Web Design. I think it is a great and well-needed conversation for all of us. The William & Mary Alumni Magazine’s responsive design approach is, as always, a work in process. But rather than focus on a platform specific application, our last issue was the first to respond to various browser capabilities, including the iPad browser. (http://alumni.wm.edu/magazine/ – defaults to latest issue.)
The issue that we are about to publish will take things a step further as we are testing with Android tablets and the Kindle Fire to take advantage of specific features. We will also take advantage of some of the other iOS features such as orientation.
Probably the biggest strategic upgrade, however, is to provide additional content on this “Web” version. We will have embedded video and audio, an extra feature article and additional written content on a number of stories. We chose this strategy because it keeps all the content in one place and then delivers it different as opposed to multiple content for each app.
It’s an exciting strategy that seems to be working as an addition, because there is no plan to discontinue mailing out 90,000 printed alumni magazines. I was invited to present this idea at CASE District VI on how to curate content across these multiple platforms and am looking forward to the conversation in Denver in January.
Mitch VanderVorst
Director of Alumni Communications
The College of William & Mary
We signed on with GradMags last year and now, six issues later, we couldn’t be happier. Al and his team have been very easy to work with, incorporating new features we’ve requested and putting into motion some of the more complicated feature requests. GradMags turnaround time is also very quick. I send them a high-res PDF of our magazine on Thurs. with instructions on what multimedia goes where, and by Monday morning the latest edition is live. They even worked with us to push our app through our own account rather than GradMags so the MTSUMag app lives with the rest of our university’s apps in the iTunes Store. We’ve been so pleased with the digital version of our printed magazine through GradMags that we recently launched our first iPad only magazine as a supplement to our normal distribution schedule. I don’t normally comment or leave reviews of services, but GradMags has been such a pleasure to work with I can’t say enough good things about them. Plus, their service was considerably cheaper than similar competitors.