It’s hardly radical to assert that text should be selectable and searchable, yet this is a relatively rare feature with tablet publications. We’re not talking about simple text strings, but custom XML markup and tagging, allowing predictive search of a collection of any size, whether or not the individual issues are loaded on the device.
Our background is in creating and perfecting images for Hollywood and beyond. That means that not only do we hold high standards for scanning and conversion of images, we also know how to make them look their best without using excess bandwidth and storage. If your publication is more like an art book, we know how to preserve and improve its look on the screen.
A high-quality publication demands that its interactive version build upon that reputation for quality. At the top of this page is the main UI for Cinefex Classic, and we believe it goes far beyond what is possible in off-the-shelf tablet publishing applications. Where other approaches sacrifice quality for efficiency, we are able to respect and where possible improve upon the original.
Fans of Cinefex Magazine responded to our Kickstarter effort by pledging $297,000 to see 30 years of the publication come to life on the tablet. They gained access to articles and images that were collectible and out of print, which meant that the publisher was seeing zero revenue for its most sought-after work, prior to release of the Cinefex Classic collection.
New Scribbler is a publishing platform that was designed specifically to bring the entire back catalog of a high quality, high volume publication called Cinefex to the iPad.
We were able to design a great app thanks to decades of combined experience in interactive design and development. Specifically, we were confident that publishing platforms that feel like slideshows or gimmicky multimedia, with clunky UI and UX and individual issues that each occupy 500 MB or more on a portable device were doing it wrong.
We also knew our target market, because we come from visual effects production for the very Hollywood movies featured on the covers and in the pages of Cinefex. While the entire publishing industry seems focused only on how to pay the bills selling the next issues, we saw tremendous value for practitioners of our craft, given that we could provide the entire collection for what a few print issues from it might cost on eBay.
And of course, as visual people with backgrounds in movies, television, interactive and live graphics we know how to make an application feel rich, cinematic and dynamic. For a tablet application, that kind of feel bespeaks quality not only for a publication serving Hollywood artists, producers and directors, but for any publication. The world wants to engage with content that looks fantastic, is easily browsed and read, and a user interface that provides everything needed and nothing more, remaining discreet and out of the way where appropriate.
We nailed it with Cinefex Classic. If your interactive tablet project demands this level of care, or even if you want to talk to us about what a carefully designed UX and real, games-quality 3D interactivity can do for your app, we’re listening.
