The most interesting part of Mag+ video (shoved on my Tumblr site) for me was a deconstruction of how magazine design works, some journalists might be able to replicate elements of this.

Or maybe a Wordpress template can be developed which considers a visual element and a more layered magazine type structure?

But there is no doubt that if you have great content and this great content gets interpreted in a visually appealing way you will have an even more successful piece in the end.

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Thanks and Regards

Noel for Nopun.com
a professional graphic design studio

Design hasn’t moved on in the same way other aspects of the trade have online, and this is a constant source of frustration to many. I’m also not convinced that people won’t read long form work online – design plays a role here too, as I argue at the link above. In fact, I’m just working up another post on that very subject.

I agree with the your point and the other comments, that this is more the domain of magazine-style content. I wonder if there is much of a place for this in online journalism though. With so much information to process, don’t we need to get it in the fastest, most consumable form possible?

How many people actually read any kind of long-from writing online? (in front of a computer).

In the end, I think you are right. But what’s missing is an emphasis that the future of being online isn’t being on a computer, it’s being on a Kindle-like device and at that point design will matter more and will definitely be a factor in people’s willingness to pay for it. In fact people are already willing to pay for content on a Kindle when it is free online.

However, the implication that form is more important than content is flawed, in my opinion, and I’ve not seen any research data that bears it out. Plus, far too many “pretty” websites are absolutely not usable (ie, too often designers privilege eye candy over functionality).

However I don’t think that kind of mentality will ever hit mainstream news. I do feel it is a possible alternative to the traditional magazine industry.

The reason why I don’t think it will ever hit the mainstream news is that that kind of attention and detail costs time and money. A lot of time and money. Reporters are cranking out stories constantly. Too fast for a good experience like that to be created. Putting that much work into daily news stories is overkill. It’s why newspapers are as simple as they are. Magazines however are a different story.

Magazines are inherently visual because they have the time to go in depth on the information as well as the experience. They can worry about textures, colors, visuals, etc. That kind of experience you can transform into a digital experience quite well and yes I do agree with you, people will pay for a good digital informative experience.

I for one am excited for the shift. I do not think we are coming close to the visual and informative potential that we have right now and I’d like to see that potential better used. Very interesting post you have, we’ll see what the future brings.