Website Shop

Project Overview

IndesignMedia publish popular architecture and design magazines. When considering the migration to digital, we thought, why think small? Rather than migrating each of our magazines as discrete, individual digital publications, we conceived the idea of a constantly updated, portable architecture and design library, one that would house not only richly enhanced digital versions of our own magazines, but a diverse, value-adding spread of other architecture and design content, too. It would also function as a revolutionary tool for our advertisers and clients, replacing their reliance on print/e-catalogues with a far more effective, mobile platform.

Organisation

Indesign Media Asia Pacific

Team

We had a dedicated team of our in-house geniuses working on Binder collaboratively. Our design team, Emma Warfield, Michelle Byrne, Alex Buccheri, Frances Yeoland and Rollo Hardy, worked alongside our digital content and user experience expert, Radu Enache.

Project Brief

The time had come for us to make the move to mobile, and bring our top print magazines to digital. The creative vision of our small Sydney team saw beyond this initial brief though, wondering, why not go after ‘the big idea’? - A solution that would go further than meeting just our own needs, and unify the needs, desires and practices of our readers and advertisers, in light of the fact that now, more than ever, people are choosing where and when they source research or indulge in information, and expect to be able to access information on the go. And so the brief evolved.

Our new brief was that - rather than migrating our magazines to digital as discrete, individual publications – we would create a platform, an interactive, curated library that would host our magazines and other non-commercial architecture and design content, but that could also be used as a new, game-changing tool for our clients and advertisers, outside the context of our publications - replacing their traditional reliance on static print or e-catalogues. We wanted to use the advantages of mobile to bring our readers into a closer relationship with our clients’ and advertisers’ products and services, to make our industry readers’ work easier and more efficient, and to give our non-industry readers greater access to the design they are passionate about. This is Binder: a platform to revolutionise everyone’s mode of relaxation, research and work; a personal, portable, architecture and design library.

Project Need

Our clients and advertisers are suppliers to the architecture, design and building industry. We found they were still relying on static paper catalogues to pitch for projects – not the best approach, when modern workplaces seek to reduce paper clutter. We consulted them as we were concepting Binder, and it was then that we realised just how useful it could be- not just as a platform for our own publications, but also as an independent industry tool. We offered the service of digitising content and adding it to the Binder library, so that suppliers to the architecture/design/building industry could simply bring an iPad to meetings, and showcase their products dynamically.

Their project pitches could now utilise the best of the digital frontier, with vivid images and interactivity - being able to turn a product around to view it from different angles, change the colour or upholstery of a product in situ, watch product demonstrations, videos etc. Their product pitches no longer get lost in piles of paper, and their own clients – architects and design specifiers – can download Binder, and enjoy the convenience of having their product and information library on hand. This multivalence is Binder’s pivotal innovation. For our clients and advertisers, it’s a game-changing pitching tool. For architects and design specifiers, it’s a portable, up-to-date product and information library. For our readers, it’s a personalised architecture and design oasis. For us, it hosts our magazines. And for everyone, Binder is free – high accessibility is key.

User Experience

Binder is free. Content is in the form of tablet magazines, which show in the Downloads section. From here, users can download whatever interests them. There is a wealth of architecture and design options to choose from - our own magazines, Indesign, Habitus and DQ, other magazines, awards annuals, catalogues and more. Some downloadable content is priced; much of it is free. Users can receive push notifications whenever new content becomes available.

Once items are downloaded, they appear in the Library section of Binder. Here, users engage with content, and Binder offers all the brilliance of the digital frontier. Each publication operates with intuitive page turning, scrolling, etc., and articles are broken down into small scrollable text boxes, with accompanying images to flick through. There are more brilliant images and even extra image galleries not possible in print – a designer’s previous works, behind-the-scenes of photo shoots, etc.

We make it easy for the user to pursue anything that interests them. If they want to know more about a designer, writer, product, brand etc. in any Binder content, they can launch additional image galleries or videos, go directly to a website, product range, stockist, online store etc. Users can choose to engage with ads, such as turning a product around to view it from different angles, watching a product demonstration or video, etc. Users can save anything to their Bookmarks section of Binder, and they can share any page with their network on Facebook, Twitter, or by email.

Project Marketing

We began raising market awareness of Binder during its concepting and development phase, frequently consulting our clients and advertisers to ensure we were creating something that met their needs. Prior to launching, we ran full-page advertisements in our print magazines DQ, Indesign and Habitus, which would all be digitised for Binder. These revealed only minimal details, creating anticipation as well as brand awareness and familiarity with Binder’s logo and graphic style.

We orchestrated a soft launch on Habitus Living, the online community for Design Hunters, and Indesignlive, the news-focussed hub for architecture and design. Wide skyscraper ads on both sites led to the Binder App in the iTunes store, and an article on Indesignlive asked, simply, ‘What is Binder?’, accompanied by a slick, three-minute demonstration video. We also continued to spread the idea by word-of-mouth. At every client meeting, one of our team would demonstrate Binder and how it could be used. When Binder launched, an interview with Binder’s head designer, coupled with the demonstration video, ran on Indesignlive and Habitus Living.

At the Sydney Indesign event in August, (thousands of visitors, and almost 100 exhibiting suppliers to the architecture and design industry), we created a ‘Binder Hub’ in the central area. People could relax in a peaceful, beanbag-filled haven and try out Binder on one of the many iPads lying around. They could also take away one of our Binder business cards, which gave them a three-day free download of all our magazines on Binder.