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
MacDirectory 145 INTERVIEW Maps. One of the challenges for this site was that we were constrained by the limitations of certain rights issues of the content—they were not allowed to show any of the content in its non-original form. So the concept of having both the in-page line viewer and the full-screen viewer worked very well. But you have to remember that people like to copy and paste, that clients like to have the ability to boost search engine optimization, and so we found a lot of ways to work around these constraints. MD > The Daily Beast has been getting a lot of coverage since being launched. From the perspective of someone who was involved in creating the site, what's so unique about it? BR > The thing that's really special about The Daily Beast, which hasn't really launched yet, is that we have created a new type of advertising paradigm. It's a new approach, something that has never been done. As you notice from looking at the site, there is no standard IAB advertising, because we are coming up with a whole different strategy to sell advertising online. There won't be any standard IAB ads on The Daily Beast, which is very unique. MD > As mobile devices, like the iPhone, are becoming more prevalent and giving people access to the web wherever they are, have you seen an increase demand for mobile-friendly sites? BR > More and more of our projects have mobile phone components. We launched an A&E Emmy site, so that all the shows they were nominated for could be watched and voted for via the iPhone. The Daily Beast has a mobile phone version, Interview magazine has a mobile phone version and a lot of the work we have down with Comcast has mobile access. MD > Obliviously the screen of an iPhone is much smaller than the screen of an iMac, so are there design limitations that you have to work around when building sites for mobile phones? BR > It's not so much about design limitations. It's really about creating an alternate experience. As an agency we work on all platforms—video game consoles, personal computers and mobile. For us, it's really about understanding the intent of the content that people will be viewing, and creating an additional interface for that content rather than trying to cram a Web site on to a phone. MD > What makes a good Web site? BR > At the end of the day it's all about the content. And, it's about creating a design that complements the content and vice versa. It is a utility and you need to understand the purpose of the site. Is it a marketing site that people will go to once or twice and send it to a friend? Is it a news site, like The Daily Beast, that people will come back to several times a day? Is it a magazine that people will come to weekly? It's key to understand this, and then design around the objectives. The design direction and user experience, and how you populate the content for each experience, is different for every site. The way the site is designed will set the expectations for the user, letting them know if they should come back every five minutes or every few days. MD > Where does Code and Theory look for inspiration? BR > We pull our inspiration from everywhere to be honest. We were heavily influenced by print, from just the sensi- bility aspect and its boldness. We have always been big into print, typography and design. More recently we have been finding ways to integrate these inspirations into websites without limiting search engine optimization, while still delivering dynamic, fun creations. MD > Got to ask: are you guys Mac or PC? BR > It's mixed. I think the creative side tends to work on Macs, and the deve- lopers tend to work on PC. But some of our developers do prefer to work on Macs. AT LEFT: DAN GARDNER > ABOVE: BRANDON RALPH