8 Publishers Experimenting with Longform Features

8 Publishers Experimenting with Longform Features With the state of magazine publishing on tablets under much debate (see: pro vs con), several publishers have been upping their game online when it comes to feature-style content outside the boundaries of replicating print editions. This type of design work is very complex -- often hand-coded -- since a desktop publishing-style WYSIWYG toolset is not quite there. In the meantime, this type of storytelling is filling a void where tablet based magazines are having a tough time competing -- they are searchable, shareable, more social and accessible on many more platforms.

Sports Illustrated jumped into the game this week -- along with their cheeky tagline: longform since 1954.

  • Complex
    Complex
  • Complex
    Complex
  • Sports Illustrated
    Sports Illustrated
  • Sports Illustrated
    Sports Illustrated
  • Pitchfork
    Pitchfork
  • Pitchfork
    Pitchfork
  • Pitchfork
    Pitchfork
  • Pitchfork
    Pitchfork
  • Pitchfork
    Pitchfork
  • ESPN
    ESPN
  • ESPN
    ESPN
  • The New York Times
    The New York Times
  • The New York Times
    The New York Times
  • The New York Times
    The New York Times
  • Newsweek
    Newsweek
  • The New York Times
    The New York Times
  • The Washington Post
    The Washington Post
  • EPIC Magazine
    EPIC Magazine


With the lack of a great WYSIWYG design tool, its crucial to have a close working relationship between design and development. I asked SI Creative Director Chris Hercik about their process and goals:
"This shows the power of having a developer (Louis Gubitosi) sitting right next to the art director (Alicia Hallett). The goal is to have an immersive lean back experience while maintaining a print design sensibility.... All on your desktop. Actually on any platform since it's responsive."

These are not publishers creating micro-sites, but exploring an immersive feature-length story that is the essence of traditional magazine-style storytelling. Strong art direction, photography, illustration, and infographics are at the core of these stories. 

While many of these are designed to be responsive to desktop, tablet, and phone screens, some are quite slow on anything smaller than desktop. It's still early, and the rules are not yet set, which makes it an exciting time to be exploring this new format.

The gallery above features some notable longform features from several publishers, and here are some links worth checking out:

• Complex: Danny Brown
• Pitchfork: MGMT and Janekke Monae
• Sports Illustrated: The Ghost of Speedy Cannon 
• The Washington Post: Cycling's Road Forward


I'm looking forward to more experimentation in this exciting area. H/T to Joe Zeff for a few of these links!

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