The New Yorker
Design lead for mobile web and first-generation iPad app.
After working on the design for The New Yorker’s first mobile-optimized site, I was selected as a part of a small design team to design The New Yorker’s first-generation iPad app. We worked closely with the magazine’s design team to dissect every part of the iconic magazine to ensure it translated to the new medium, creating a new grid and adjustable typescale to accommodate every piece of content, including all the intricate details that make The New Yorker what is it.
While the UX of a magazine seems straightforward, translating the experience to an interactive format brought up new challenges. For the first time a user could just jump to the story they want with a simple tap. Things like page numbers and “continuing reading on page 107” were no longer needed. Ad layout adjacencies now required interstitials or embeds within the content. At the same time, we set out to create a new experience that allowed the reader to easily pick up where they left off and easily get into the next article. New features could also be included like audio and video for the first time. The cartoons that are placed throughout the magazine had to be assigned in a new way that both kept the feeling of the magazine, but also allowed users to look through them all as a slideshow.
In 2011, I also worked with a team to pitch an all-access subscription model so users could access The New Yorker content across any medium or device seamlessly from one account. As part of this new concept, premium users would be able to access content in either the way it was published in the magazine or by topic. The subscription model also gave access to the entire archive of the magazine as far back as 1925.
Interactive Design Director
@ Condé Nast
2010-2012
TEAM:
Sean Brown, Don Eschenauer - UX & Visual Design
Vincent Holleran - Visual Design
Blake Eskin - Editor