Response>>Inside Columbia Goes Digital

Although I'm aware Inside Columbia Magazine isn't the beacon of journalism, it is embarking on new and interesting adventures. The magazine, whose website is minimal, decided instead of amping up its website (it is on a long list of to-do's, but was pushed down the list), to go digital. A digital issue of the magazine can be viewed, or downloaded as a PDF, for free from insidecolumbia.net. You can literally go through the magazine, page by page, but with the click of an arrow instead of your fingertip. Kind of cool, right?

It is a little slow, however. And reading the pages is a bit of a pain since you have to zoom in to be able to see the words. But other than that, the positives seem to be many...you can share the entire issue with a friend, do your environmental part, and get it all for free. It's interesting to me as we embark on our trip to Meredith that more magazines haven't gone this route. I know the Missourian was one of the first to attempt a digital addition, but I haven't heard much about it since a few years back. 

I'll be getting back to you about this--why Inside Columbia bumped this up on the to-do, and how it actually goes for them. 

But from the design aspect-if issues are going to go digital, could we design with that in mind? Maybe different column widths to prevent a reader from losing their place when zoomed in? Or more structured pages? Who knows...but think about it. If this is going to be part of the future of our industry (or save it), what can we do to help it along?

Here is a link to the website: http://www.insidecolumbia.net/

>>Just look on the right hand side and click on read our digital version.

PS: Although the magazine itself is somewhat structured with departments, etc., the feature designers have the freedom to always do as they please, so check out that design work!