The Future of Magazines Alive in Prototype

I love print magazines. Flipping through their pages, starting at the last page instead of the first, and letting it hang around for a while on my coffee table like a piece of decor that showboats parts of my personality to my guests. So, I still have personal mixed feelings about the idea of a digital magazine. But it's an inevitable reality in the future of magazines.

We now have Lonny, the first all digital home design magazine, and major publishers Conde Nast, Hearst and others have signed onto to jointly produce and distribute digital magazines, dubbed the "Hulu for magazines." So I just HAD to check out this new digital magazine prototype developed by Bonnier. And its undeniably very cool. These guys have a great prototype going, aimed at capturing the print magazine experience.

My questions. Which titles will be available in digital ink, and will any of them be in the design & architecture categories? And, well, will I like curling up with it?

Can We Talk?

Can we talk ? Like everything else around us, the design industry is in a flux. Business has waned and the shelter & architecture media category has taken some hard hits - losing some fabulous stalwart titles like Metropolitan Home and I.D. Magazine. (Ouch! It hurts to recap it). Social media has taken off like a shot in 2009 and in my experience - publishers and design brands were awfully sluggish in accepting the power of the internet and preparing for the changes that are now chomping at their bottom lines.

There's a ton of great information at our fingertips about PR, marketing and branding. But what is lacking is discussion and ideas that design businesses can relate to and use. So I'll be sharing the tons of great how-to's, tips and ideas out there, and hopefully, also spark more discussion and provide industry specific ideas that brings PR and marketing to life for you.

Please, if you have any ideas and suggestions you'd like to share with me, email me directly at laura@lauranewmanpr.com or comment here. I'm dying to hear what information you'd like to read more about or what you may not be getting. I look forward to some great discussions and being a lively part of this community.

I.D. Magazine Folds

Here we go again. One of the great ones goes down. I.D. Magazine is folding after 55 years in print. This is truly sad news to me and a big loss to the whole design and architecture community. I was just reading through the New & Notable issue this week, noting the thoughtful, insightful and truly intelligent reporting this magazine provides us - ready to renew my subscription. (Photo: FastCompany.com)

Social Media Strategies, Just a New Hat on "Old" PR Strategies

Just how can you use social media in your public relations plan? Are they different? The same? This excellent case study by Shift Communications helps put it all in perspective, and shows us how a well thought out, strategic plan merging both social media and traditional media can build awareness for a business. While many of you may be at a loss for ideas in the "new" media world (that's not that new anymore), what you'll see here is that the strategies are not new at all. The cornerstones of any good PR program include reaching influencers, getting and listening to feedback, building word of mouth, and knowing your customer and the media. We've just got a whole new set of tools and platforms to carry them out through. So think: How can you put a new hat on some old tricks?