Recently I
came across a new magazine that is delivered via the Web - and utilizes a lot of Web
native functionality in the process. It's called Avantoure and the tagline is "life is a game". The
contents of the magazine appeal to me, but in this post I'll focus mainly on the web
technologies being used.
To read each issue of Avantoure, you need to download a web app called Zinio Reader - a 4.4 MB download. Zinio in itself is an interesting next generation Web app. The Zinio homepage provides a variety of name brand magazines to read and/or subscribe to - such as BusinessWeek, Macworld, Premiere. The latest version of Zinio Reader also features rich media, such as the following features:
As a recent NY Times article noted, there is a trend for magazines to go digital - so they can attract students and young people to read them. The Web is of course one of the prime delivery mechanisms, but also web technologies such as hyperlinking and rich media UI elements are key to the user experience.
To make the online magazine reading experience more interactive, Avantoure uses rich media elements like animated pictures, hyperlinks, and embedded audio and video trailers. The company says it wants to push the boundaries in digital magazines, so after each issue they examine what worked and what didn't. For example, they say that based on feedback received after the inaugural March-April issue, the May-June one included more audio files and full-page Flash animations to illustrate the articles. In subsequent issues, they've added more video footage, additional Flash animations created from scratch to highlight specific articles, and slide shows.
I purchased the latest edition of Avantoure and found the reading experience to be very nice, although it's never that comfortable reading a magazine via a PC or laptop. With a tablet though, I could see myself using it a lot.
The hyperlinks in the article open up in your default browser, while the videos play inside the Zinio Reader and generally complement the articles well. Some pages have music on by default - e.g. the article entitled "WhenEastmetWest" greeted me with a wash of lovely music related to that theme. You can also make notes (like yellow stickies) and highlight things in the magazine. Another interesting factor is the advertising, which is as glossy and attractive as you'd expect in a lifestyle magazine.
The only usability quibble I have is that you have to magnify the text in order to read it, then de-magnify to see the whole page again. Other than that, it is a pleasure to read and interact with.
Avantoure behind the scenes
To finish, a little about the magazine itself. Avantoure is a London-based interactive digital magazine, launched in March 2006. It's now up to its fourth issue, which has the theme "Back to the Future". Themes of past issues included "Las Vegas" and "Nautical Issue". Publisher Serafima Bogolomova says that their aim is to "make people want to strive for something unusual, to experiment, and to be non judgmental…to encourage them to play with their lives a bit". The title of the magazine, Avantoure, is a combination of the French word "avan" (meaning 'forward') and the English "tour." So the title loosely translated means: "let's set on a journey". So on a personal level, the magazine's theme appeals to me.
Setting on a journey is also kind of what print publications are doing circa 2006, by transferring their business into the digital Web realm! Avantoure is doing a fine job at running with this trend - and is well worth checking out for its content too.
Comments
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Great post, Richard. Fascinating. By the way, I just have to say, I think your blog is knocking it out of the park! You are now my favorite read. (Yes, even over Tech-you-know-who.) Kudos to you, Alex, and all. You are on a roll for sure!
cheers,
Graeme
Posted by: Graeme Thickins | December 5, 2006 5:08 AM
What's the added value of the Zinio reader? Can't all this already be done in normal webpages?
Posted by: DJ Henk | December 5, 2006 8:50 AM
Thanks Greame for your kind words, much appreciated! :-)
DJ, the Zinio reader does seem to offer a 'richer' user experience than what is possible in a browser. Even using Flash I don't think Avantoure could achieve the same functionality in the browser. It's very much like the desktop RSS Reader vs browser-based RSS Reader issue - and the rich UI vs convenience tradeoff there.
Posted by: Richard MacManus | December 5, 2006 3:01 PM
Hi Henk,
Yes it's possible, take a look at the brazilian digital magazine It's Real -
www.itsreal.com.br
best,
F√°bio Garcia
Posted by: F√°bio | December 6, 2006 11:21 AM
Richard,
Zinio is in the industry for quite sometime. There are other innovations happening in the same space. Just to have the glitz and glamour, the Maxim magazine's sister site is called "Monkey Magazine"[Warning: soft porn content] and it is being powered by a company called Ceros Ceros not just powers online magazines, but also into B2B, Travel, Government etc.
Posted by: Narain | December 6, 2006 8:04 PM
Hi Fabio
www.itsreal.com.br is just a variation on the same theme. It is exactly the same idea (technology wise) and the software is similar but just for online use only. I think there is not so big difference between Zinio and let's say format that www.itsreal.com.br is presented. It is just either you wait for a magazine to be downloaded on line (takes quite a long time, and you need to do it every time you want to read it) or spend 5 min downloading Avantoure in Zinio format. But once you downloaded it, it stays on your desktop and you can read it off line... www.itsreal.com.br cannot be read off line...
Zinio have been in the industry since 2002! They were the pioneers in digital format for magazines. All other companies followed it and they are not the leaders…
Ceros, Olive Software and other similar companies produce softwares which is great for online archiving of the printed versions of magazines (be it B2B or consumer or whatever) BUT if you want to subscribe and read a magazine in digital format Zinio is the best!
Sima
Posted by: Sima | December 8, 2006 4:22 AM
Could this be ported to Adobe or Sony's new digital readers?
Posted by: ventureblogalist | December 13, 2006 2:13 PM