Future Publishing | Making Magazines Digital

De klant aan het woord met deze keer: David Hicks van Future Publishing, één van de grootste specialistische consumenten uitgevers.

Future geeft wereldwijd 80 magazine titels uit zoals Total Film, Classic Rock en het technologische kopstuk T3. David vertelt hoe ze bij T3 het tablet publishing traject hebben beleefd en hoe dit hen heeft geholpen.

David, can you tell our readers something about Future Publishing?
Certainly. Future, based in the UK, was founded in 1985, and has grown into one of the world's largest specialist consumer publishers. The company now employs over 1,000 people in offices in the UK, Australia and the United States. Future publishes over 80 magazine titles across the globe, including Total Film, Classic Rock, and the flagship technology title, T3. We recently launched over 70 titles onto the Apple Newsstand, and this is growing each month...

Why did Future Publishing wanted to publish to iPad?
Well, over the last several years, the company has transformed into a global multi-media publisher, with products designed to appeal to the high-value, loyal audiences which our advertisers and commercial partners need to reach. One of the ways that the company has led the field has been on tablet devices - particularly the iPad. T3, our consumer technology magazine, was a perfect fit - we knew that T3 readers would be buying iPads as soon as they hit the Apple Stores, and the UK's most well-known technology brand just had to be on there.

I can imagine you have certain expectations about the software for tablet publishing, why did you choose WoodWing?
Yes, we chose WoodWing to publish the monthly magazine onto the iPad, for a few reasons - mainly because the software solution was ready, we were ready, and the workflow matched up with our print edition production workflow - all based around our InDesign skill set. We had a small team of designers and one editor, who trained up to use the Woodwing tools - Digital Magazines, Smart Connection, Content Station, and Enterprise. We worked on three dummy editions, to get up to speed, and then launched the first iPad magazine in the UK, in October 2010 (which now seems a very long time ago!).

How many downloads did T3 get?
Actually, T3 iPad Edition went straight to the top of the App Store charts in the UK, so that's great. It's been the UK's number one iPad magazine since launch, and last year, appeared in the top ten overall grossing apps for 2011, ahead of some big newspapers and other more well known UK magazine brands. It continues to be successful - and has recently won two awards for design, and advertising, at the Digital Magazine Awards in London.

Over the course of 2011, the team steadily improved the design of the iPad edition, and when Newsstand launched in October 2011, we redesigned the storefront, and incorporated subscriptions. This propelled the app back to the number one spot in the UK for a few weeks, ahead of Angry Birds, GarageBand and The Times!

We currently see around 20,000-25,000 downloads per month for each edition in the UK, and have seen the numbers grow month on month. T3 is now a global app - and is available in over 120 iTunes regions across the world. We see many users coming back to purchase back issues, and downloading the free preview edition. We also publish the app onto Google Play, and the Android platform will no doubt grow over the coming months too with the launch of several new tablet models.

How are your experiences with WoodWing and Evolved Media Solutions?
Personally, I really enjoy using the Woodwing tools, as they fit with my 15 years experience as a graphic designer. I've used InDesign and Quark throughout the whole of my professional life, and being able to create an interactive edition of a print magazine using those same core skills is a huge benefit. Yes, I've had to learn about user navigation, and also about the back end - some basic code and also the marketing side - but on the whole, the Woodwing and Adobe DPS tools allow me to do my job, without having to learn anything vastly different.

The team I work with also love this innovative system - and we are looking forward to seeing the app grow and evolve with the help of Evolved Media Solutions in London, PubliQare in Veenendaal, the Netherlands, the Woodwing team in Zaandam, the Netherlands, and of course taking full advantage of the rapidly-improving Adobe DPS platform.

As the digital world opens up, T3 and Future are perfectly placed to reach out to entirely new audiences across the world, unlocking the full potential of our multi-media portfolio, from print to online, video to events, tablet to smartphone.

David Hicks- Future Publishing