Apps: January 2013 Archives

Interview with Tim Moore, creative director of 29th Street Publishing

Among the most exciting developments in iPad app creation has been the rise of magazine apps that are unique, not based on pre-existing publications or their formats. 29th Street Publishing has been in the vanguard of this movement, creating magazine apps from scratch, and using a native technology that is unlike the DPS-style approach that so many print magazines have used for their digital versions. So far they've done three apps: the Latino sports-themed V as in Victor, The Awl: Weekend Companion, a spinoff from the popular Awl website, and Maura Magazine, a weekly collection of music and cultural writing by critic/journalist Maura Johnston. All three apps have been done for the iPad and iPhone, and sample issues of each are available free from the iTunes stores.

The apps themselves are text-driven (although V as in Victor has sported a very smart series of cover illustrations), featuring a spare, modern design that owes a lot to the look of The New Yorker. The navigation is not as linear and structured as most traditional magazine apps, and features some of the novel approaches used in digital versions of Letter to Jane and Port.

It's no surprise then, that one of the wizards behind this set of apps is Tim Moore, the creative director of 29th Street Publishing. Before moving to New York City to work on the project Tim was the creative force behind the SPD-fave Letter to Jane app, which was produced out of his home in Portland, Oregon. He also worked as a developer with art directors Matt Wiley and Jeremy Leslie on several digital issues of Port magazine. On the eve of the launch of the newest issue of Letter to Jane, and with the debut of the third app from 29th Street Publishing, Maura Magazine, we talked with Tim about his approach to making apps and take a look at some of his creations.



… MORE