Magazine Innovation Project - Hinge (Fall 2011)
Dec. 14, 2011
The students in the Fall 2011 Magazine Innovation project created Hinge, a tablet-native, bi-weekly magazine with a playful tone that successfully intertwines current events with their historical significance using culturally relevant, interactive media.
The 14 students used Google SketchUp, Tumult Hype and Mag+ to combine original content with videos, dynamic graphics and engaging photos geared at 35-50-year-old men who have a natural curiosity about history.
Watch the group's final presentation.
Stories included pieces about the legacy of comedian Ernie Kovacs, Franklin D. Roosevelt’s mixed drink creations and the history of Incan brain surgery.
“By doing a Tablet-native magazine concept, the students were in the position of being ahead of the industry,” said Assistant Professor Patti Wolter, who led the project. “This made it doubly hard for students, because there weren’t many existing answers to their questions. It forced them to come up with their own definitions. I’m incredibly proud of their work and how they established new norms in the magazine environment.”
Instead of writing each article with a word count in mind, students created interactive pieces navigable in a determined amount of minutes, longer for features and shorter for departments.
The students faced the real world challenges of reaching their audience and paying for the magazine. Their business plan includes using social media and events to spread the word, and a hike in prices in year two, after gaining readership with an inexpensive introductory price.
Students said they learned about the vast possibilities for magazines with iPad applications in the changing magazine landscape. The group was made up of students concentrating in magazine and interactive publishing, so the group learned how to integrate both concepts in creating this iPad magazine.
“We are as much experts in iPads and digital magazines as anyone else,” said Alison Kessler, who coordinated the business plan. “Our decisions could pioneer the way the industry goes in the future.”
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