Project Overview
On May 31st 2011 Fairfax Media unveiled The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age iPad Apps. The Apps bring together the best elements of newspaper with the interactive, personal, connected and high resolution of the iPad to take the readers news experience to another level.
In the first few weeks over 150,000 were downloaded, catapulting both Apps to the no.1 and 2 positions in the App stores news category. The response from media, tech reviews and most importantly our readers was overwhelming – the Apps are something special.
Organisation
Fairfax Media
Team
Simon Dulhunty, Rajhev Rajkumar, Olivia Storelli, Stefan Savva, Jane Huxley, Creative Services Unit Fairfax Media and Enterprise Applications unit Fairfax Media.
Project Brief
Fairfax Media developed the apps to cater to our growing iPad audience, who receive news from The Sydney Morning Herald (smh.com.au) or The Age (theage.com.au). We wanted to create something that is aesthetically appealing, provides timely news coverage and is an easy user experience.
The SMH and TheAge for iPad App bring together the best of the newspaper and online to take your news reading experience to another level.
Features include:
- Read your favourite magazines and sections any day of the week: Good Weekend, Sunday Life, Good Living, Domain, Metro, Drive, Traveller and more
- Enjoy the Editor’s selection of the key stories of the day, with Editor’s Choice
- Watch full-screen video and enjoy stunning photo galleries and interactive graphics
- Use Airplay to view video and galleries on your TV, using Apple TV
- Access breaking news updates 24 hours-a-day
- Customise the way sections appear and control the way content is downloaded over 3G
- Save articles to read later
- Set up alerts to track stories that contain your topics and keywords of your choice
- Share stories by email, Facebook or Twitter
- View live sports scores, fixtures and results
- Get stock quotes on Australian listed companies
- Get the latest weather and forecast for your location
- Play our interactive Sudoku
Project Innovation / Need
Fairfax Media need to deliver breaking news and articles as effectively as possible, innovation was a priority on this project. The Apps were designed specifically for the iPad and have been built using the technologies strengths.
High impact visuals including video, galleries and infographs work well on the iPad, whilst providing customisable settings allows readers to control their news experience.
Utilising the technology of the iPad the Apps deliver a world class news experience where the editors take the role of curator providing their expertise to the reader.
Every edition of Apps include core news and information content as well as, the weekly sections readers love and come to expect.
The unique technology and audience of the Apps provide the editors with an opportunity to run news ‘firsts’ and exclusive content that enhances the readers experience.
The recent investigative story ‘Patriots and Traitors’ ran both print and online articles on the Apps as well as, short form video and iPad exclusive multimedia supporting the story.
Pressure Footy an interactive stats column by the AFL stats guru Ted Hopkins produced a new way of interpreting the modern game in a stunning new visual format and this is available exclusively on Apps.
User Experience
The first glance of the Apps and the reader is immediately drawn to how visually impactful they are, with each edition reading almost like a glossy magazine.
The templates were designed to draw the reader’s eye with large beautiful images; the stories are simply and prominently order with rich multimedia and video to enhance the reader experience.
The layout allows users to quickly scan headlines or be directed to the day’s top stories via a visual hierarchy that the editors use to highlight the more important stories on a page.
Research showed high satisfaction with the end-to-end experience of newspaper and magazines the design replicates this with the progression bar at the bottom of the Apps providing the reader a sense of how far through the edition they are.
The menu allows readers to download all their latest beloved sections as well as quickly navigate to them. Customer didn’t want fancy nav such as carousels –they wanted useful functions that enabled discoverability.
Interactive infographics, reader comments and weekly quizzes provide readers with an interactive experience.
Articles can be shared with friends and colleagues via email, Facebook and Twitter and comments made on articles via the Apps can be followed from the readers desktop.
Project Marketing
The marketing campaign for the Apps ‘Richer, Deeper and More Informed’ utilised Fairfax Media network running across print and online.
Two launch parties kicked off the launch in Sydney and Melbourne showcasing a 60” launch video.
Dedicated landing pages - smh.com.au/ipad and theage.com.au/ipad - highlighted the features of the Apps, provide access to help and directed readers to the App Store where they can download each App.
We also took to social media to promote the Apps utilising Youtube, Facebook and Twitter, in particular the buzz in the twitterverse built to a nice frenzy in launch week.
2011 Mobile Awards
News
This category recognises applications that broadcast or diffuse news and current affairs.
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