Designing the Editorial Experience: A Primer for Print, Web, and Mobile

by Sue Apfelbaum, Juliette Cezzar

In a world of media that seems to be ever-changing, how do we define what a newspaper, magazine or journal physically is? Are we drinking our morning coffee on a Sunday as we sit down and read our newstablet? Look around any doctor's office waiting room and you will find two people reading the same magazine, one holding the paper version, another on their phone. With so many mediums, designers need to evaluate the best formats to convey an editorial vision. In Designing the Editorial Experience , authors Sue Apfelbaum and Juliette Cezzar will discuss what it means to design for multiple media. It features advice from professionals in both the design and editorial fronts --and digital strategists too-- about what is constant and what is changing in the field. Inside, you will find examples of the best editorial design being produced today. In addition, explore the audiences for content, what forms the content takes, and how workflows are managed. This book provides a primer on the elements of editorial design that result in rich, thoughtful, and rewarding editorial experiences.

Genres: Design, Writing, Nonfiction

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2014

Reviews

[Celia · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first sixty pages describing “Elements of Editorial Design” were helpful.

The second section of “Case Studies” was far less so. Designers have a bad habit of using industry mumbo jumbo when discussing their projects. The book’s purpose was to showcase these designers at the crossroads of print and digital editorial design, but that was not valuable to me.

[Enrico · Rating 3 out of 5]

Difficile trovare testi sul design editoriale dei libri scolastici, ma le riviste si avvicinano: complessità del layout, importanza delle immagini e degli elementi grafici, lavoro sulla doppia pagina, progetto a servizio della trasmissione di informazioni e conoscenze, attenzione alla leggibilità. Condividono problemi e sfide anche nel passaggio a formati digitali. (Differenza importante è la periodicità e la longevità di ciascuna uscita: le riviste furbe possono permettersi di sperimentare sul design spesso, con ciclo breve e con minime conseguenze; un libro di testo si tiene il suo design per cinque anni.)
La prima parte del libro è una buona sintesi, molto essenziale, su questioni e strumenti del design editoriale.
La seconda parte sono studi di casi e interviste. La prima manciata di casi sono approfonditi e interessanti (New York Times, Guardian, Business Week…). Fino a qui, è un libro che metterei in mano a un principiante curioso con tranquillità di fare del bene.
A metà percorso il libro comincia a trattare i casi in modo sempre più superficiale, e discute progetti minuti di nessun interesse se non per chi li fa: a volte gli stessi designer, nelle interviste, con candore e convinzione rivendicano di ignorare il lettore, di snobbare il digitale e di trovare soddisfazione tra di loro, all'interno dello studio, a darsi pacche sulle spalle tra le persone del gruppo che cura la rivista (mentre nei grandi giornali i designer non dimenticano mai di accennare a iterazioni veloci e test A/B). Metà del libro quindi è riempitivo, non solo inutile ma dannoso e diseducativo.

[Rhiannon Root · Rating 3 out of 5]

How you present information can vary wildly depending on who your audience is and what format you’re using. Sue Apfelbaum and Juliette Cezzar make this point early and often in “Designing the Editorial Experience: A primer for print, web, and mobile.”

While this book explains that it’s a guide for advanced design students and working designers, a lot of the information is pretty Design 101, like understanding the differences between print formatting and mobile. The book even goes into a handy-dandy guide to what elements are on magazine page vs. say a news organization’s website.

The book itself is lovely and bright. You can tell a lot of thought and care went into every part of this book.

The case studies and interviews were probably the most important part of the book, even though one of the interviews confirmed my worst fears about design. (The “I’m here to make art and I don’t care too much about what we’re saying” fear.) The rest of the interviews, thankfully, didn’t have that attitude and had a thoughtful and interesting approach to how they go about designing things. (The interview with the Paper design director was especially good.) I really liked these interviews because of the amount of detail the designers gave. I liked reading about how they went about their work and how they got to their current jobs.

Overall, if you’re a working designer or want to know more about the subject, this book wouldn’t be a bad one to pick up.

[Dario Ferrando · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredibly useful case studies and well-made interviews. A must if you are into editorial design.