MacDirectory magazine is the premiere creative lifestyle magazine for Apple enthusiasts featuring interviews, in-depth tech reviews, Apple news, insights, latest Apple patents, apps, market analysis, entertainment and more.
Issue link: https://digital.macdirectory.com/i/867
144 MacDirectory INTERVIEW CODE AND THEORY WEB DESIGN The transforming media landscape is a source of anxiety for people around the world, and rightfully so. Last year, more than 500 North American magazines shut down, and more than 300 new titles were created. Publishers are scrambling for alternative ways to locate and engage their audiences, but too often these publishers are one step behind the newest technology. As industry tycoons fumble around their content—expanding it for the Web, trimming it for print and blasting it out for tweets—consumers are left drifting in a seemingly endless ocean of information. A good blog will surface on occasion. Perhaps a site redesign will breathe new life into an old favorite. But, for the most part, we have our sites we enjoy and we don't venture far from their trusty shores. While many balk at the forces driving this media metamorphosis, only a few step up and provide engaging, profitable, consu- mer-friendly solutions. Code and Theory, a small digital agency with offices in New York and San Francisco, is one company that has more answers than questions, and more solutions than complaints. Founded by Brandon Ralph and Dan Gardner in 2001, Code and Theory truly embraces the concept of multi-platform storytelling—a concept being hawked as the undeniable future of media by so many critics. The leading school of thought seems to be that in order for content to keep its buzz in our warp- speed world, it needs to be delivered to the Web, mobile phones, social networking sites, and on occasion, even mailboxes. Deliver it poorly and haphazardly and you'll have more enemies than readers. On the other hand, make the content accessible in a fresh and relevant way, something Code and Theory excels at, and you'll have a legion of loyal followers. The client list of Code and Theory is what you would expect from a giant ad agency that has been around for the better part of a century—not from a small digital agency that is less than a decade old. Comedy Central, Microsoft, HBO, Sony and Sprint are just a few. And then there are the media sites, which include VICE, Interview magazine and the ground- breaking The Daily Beast. Not only are these sites visual masterpieces, they are proof that there is money to be made from this digital revolution. MacDirectory caught up with Brandon Ralph, Code and Theory's co-founder and executive creative director, to discuss good design, interesting content and the challenges of merging the print and online worlds. MacDirectory > How do you approach designing an interactive site for a company or product that has generally relied on print? Brandon Ralph > What we're doing is taking a lot of the luxury, elegance and sensibility of print, then applying the Web methodologies and interaction models of online, and blending them together in a way that is traditionally not found. MD > What's the major benefit of blending the luxury of print with these web methodologies? BR > The flexibility of our content management systems, as a design, ensures that the content is more relevant, and provides way to surface that content, so you're not always forcing that square into a circle. This helps give more editorial control to the publishing staff, as well as creating more dynamic and flexible grid structures to move and promote different things around on a day-to-day basis. This also creates a concept of freshness and relevancy for the people who come to the site, and it lets them know what's going on right away. MD > Can you talk a bit about your work on the Interview magazine Web site, and what you think makes it stand out? BR > For Interview magazine we gave them the ability to archive their whole content through an in-page line viewer, as well as a full-screen viewer. This provides them with the ability to dynamically put ad insertions between pages—it kind of works like Google WORDS BY CHRIS SWEENEY