Today at Google I/O, Sports Illustrated editor Terry McDonell showcased this demo of the HTML5 version of the magazine. Last December, SI released a mockup video of how their online version would look as an app, but this version is based on the web and can be viewed with laptop and tablet browsers. It looks like a print magazine layout, with fantastic spreads, photos, and fonts, but it also has a lot of unique multimedia features that are incorporated into the design.
In the presentation, McDonell said:
“The idea is really very simple: combine the best of the web with the best of the magazine, like the sports photography, which is deep, deep in Sports Illustrated’s DNA.”
SI’s really giving photography a great plug: the demo issue also has a behind-the-scenes portrait shoot with Shaq, and there’s an expanded photo gallery option for readers to see more shoots than the ones included in the main design. Even the interactive demo ad is photo-related, showing a faux camera brand with interchangeable lenses.
This web design really opens up the doors for visual and multimedia storytelling, and is an exciting way to make an interactive publication accessible (not to mention SEO-friendly) to the entire World Wide Web.
Let us know what you think about SI’s new magazine format in the comments.
As Newsweek continues to cause its parent company to bleed money, a new magazine is trying to defy the demise of print by being agile and efficient. 48 Hour Magazine is a project that aims to “write, photograph, illustrate, design, edit, and ship a magazine in two days.”
The team of editors behind the mag include Heather Champ (former community director of Flickr) and her husband Derek Powazek. The duo were previous the founding editors of JPG Magazine so, needless to say, they know a thing or two about the business.
“Issue Zero” had the theme “hustle”, and went from an idea at noon on May 7th to a complete magazine at noon on May 9th. The team received 1,502 submissions from all around the world, including from artists and writers at well known publications such as Rolling Stone and Wired.
This video, created by California photographer Jesse Rosten, offers an interesting glimpse at what digital magazine covers might look like for the iPad. Rather than offer a static photograph of the beach as the print version of Sunset Magazine would, this cover is brought to life with both video and animation.
Audio and video are late to the magazine party, but it looks like they might steal some of photography’s thunder.
In 1927, a young photographer bought a print at San Francisco’s East West Galleries for $10 — roughly $125 today. Bernice Lovett could not pay the full price of the image at once, so she paid for it in monthly 50 cent installments. Lovett’s family held on to the photograph for over 80 years.
As it happens, the print was a signed, early print of Edward Weston’s Nautilus Shell, which became widely recognized as one of the greatest modernist photographs of all time.
The photograph will be sold in April at Sotheby’s auction house and is estimated to fetch somewhere between $300,000 to $500,000.
Image Credit: Nautilus Shell by Edward Weston courtesy of Sotheby’s
Francesco Capponi (Dippold on Flickr) has a fun printable template for creating your own nifty-looking 35mm pinhole camera.
All you need to do is print out the template on adhesive paper (size A4) and stick it onto some cardboard. Once you’ve cut out all the required pieces, follow the visual instructions provided to put it together:
Unlike many other paper pinhole camera projects we’ve seen, the final result for this one actually looks pretty nice, and will definitely make a conversation piece. If you do take the time to make this thing, be sure to report back to us with the resulting photographs!
We’re not sure whether it’s worth it in terms of cost, but here’s a way to print your own gigantic photograph posters using your ordinary photo printer. Easy Poster Printer is a free program by GD Software that automatically prints out a poster of any size (maximum is 20×20 meters) in individual pieces using your photo printer.
Obviously you could do the same thing using an ordinary program like Photoshop, but this program takes all the work out of the process, doing all the slicing and printing for you. The 6MB program is for Windows only (sorry Mac people!) and can be downloaded by clicking here.
Some weeks ago I was walking around in Emeryville (where Pixar is based) and came across a store window with a lenticular display (when the image changes depending on your angle). What caught my attention was how disfigured the model in the advertisement was from my angle, since I was seeing half a face from two different images. The above image probably isn’t what you want potential customers to see when advertising a beauty product.
Can’t wait for Polaroid to make its grand comeback this year? You can use your current camera like a digital Polaroid camera with the Portable Photo Printer by Pandigital, announced at the end of last year. It uses Zero Ink (ZINK) technology for ink-less, instant 4×6 printing, and is the first ZINK printer at this print size. The ZINK paper used by the printer has dye crystals embedded inside the paper itself, and is activated by the printer using heat.
You won’t need a computer to use the printer, as the memory card slots, LCD screen, USB ports, and controls are all located on the printer itself. The printer has an MSRP of $149.99, but is usually found online bundled with paper packs for less.
