Slides from Michael Kowalski's presentation at the International Digital Magazine Summit 2014

1. Contentment
getcontentment.com
Mobile vs
magazines
Michael Kowalski
@micycle

2. Padify is our
award
winning
platform for
creating apps,
adverts,
and digital
magazines
WINNER
PME Digital
Innovation
Feb 2014
FINALIST
SIIA Media
Innovation
Apr 2014

3. THEORY

5. Early computer

6. Miles away
Work only

7. 1m away
Work & home

8. 30cm away
Work, home,
cafe

9. In your pocket
All the time

10. Initial assumptions
?
?
?
Mobile is just another screen size
Nobody will read long content on
phones
Apps are just a fad
All wrong!

11. Mobile has expanded time spent consuming media
Proportion of media and communications activities across the day
Source: Ofcom, Aug 2014

12. Mobile has forced the pace
on user centered design
• Simple user flow:
one thing at a time
• Highly focused &
goal oriented
• Often single
2
1
3 purpose
This is why people
like apps

13. Not even
a computer

14. The phone is
an appliance
Apps are
buttons that
activate tasks

15. There are only two ways to make money
in business.
One is to bundle.
The other is to unbundle.
Jim Barksdale
Mobile is
about
unbundling

16. There’s an app for that
Multi purpose
web apps Multi purpose
mobile apps
Single purpose
mobile apps
Kleiner Perkins “Internet Trends 2014”

17. The web = an everything machine
Too much
navigational
cruft
Inconsistent
experience
something

18. Navigation
Content

19. Home Page A
Page B
Network of links
Always deciding

20. Explore
Engage
Locate

21. Linear user journeys work well on mobile
Beginning
Middle
End
{
{
{
Next

22. …and create space for non-intrusive advertising
AD
Long form

23. Mobile devices come in many sizes

24. Responsive design adapts layout to screen

25. Native code
Device capabilities
HTML – Native
bridge
Content
Hybrid apps
One time
only for each
platform
Developer
Regular
production
Editorial

26. Designing with cards
Chunks of
designed content
}}}

27. Responsive design
Practical workflow
For every card type
Turn a big design problem into a series
of smaller problems
Easily reuse in table of contents and
other navigation
Share through social media
Modular so can design around content

28. Animation and interaction
can be more than gimmicks

29. Signalling
What just happened?
Fat fingers = easy mistakes
Make the user journey visible
with animation

30. Filtering
Better use of limited screen space
Give the user more choice

31. Mobile devices are very frequently used
Waiting for
the bus
What
happens
when I tap
this button?
?

32. All issues Starting at
the back :/

33. 100%
Publication
day
0%
Rest of the
month
Chance of
finding
something
fresh
Monthly publishing

34. Chance of
finding
something
fresh
Weekly publishing
Same content, released
in weekly chunks
Time

35. Minor updates at
frequent intervals
Chance of
finding
something
fresh
Continuous publishing
Time

36. Other categories of software have
been transformed by mobile
…and grown their audience

37. Design without workflow
is like a car without wheels

38. Typical CMS workflow
CMS
Template Page
Time consuming
copy and paste
Re-upload images
Content often
doesn’t fit
Templates are
expensive to code
Templates are
inflexible and
limit creativity
Pages all look
kind of the same
Brand differentiation
is lost

39. Import Visual
layout
Publish 1-3
hours
Autotune
How we do it
} Automate as much as possible
No copy and paste!
Creative input
Enhance with video
and interactivity
Proof & approve

40. tl;dr
• Mobile has driven fundamental changes to
media consumption
• A mobile device is an appliance, not a computer.
• People like apps because of focus and flow:
buttons to achieve a goal
• Rethink and unbundle content to create effective
mobile experiences
• Continuous publishing and cards work well
• Workflow is hard

41. Contentment
michael@getcontentment.com
@micycle