PR1 - Efficient Magazine Workflow for Production and Editorial
These slides are from my presentation this morning at MagNet, Canada's Magazine Conference.
1. PR1 Efficient Workflow for
Production and Editorial
Kim Latreille, Digital Media Consultant
@kim_elle
2. Here
is
today’s
topic:
Learn
how
you
can
integrate
and
streamline
the
process
to
make
the
whole
magazine
produc:on
cycle
easier
and
more
efficient,
preven:ng
nail-‐bi:ng
stress
for
everyone
as
deadlines
begin
to
loom.
3. My
best
advice:
The
only
way
to
prevent
nail-‐bi:ng
is
to
get
a
good
manicure.
4. Why
listen
to
me?
• 20
years
experience
in
a
rapidly
changing
environment
• Magazine
hoarder
• Closet
geek/technology
lover
• Prefers
to
do
things
once
• Pet
peeve
–
backtracking
• Capable
of
the
odd
joke
6. Screen
size
varia,ons
Delivery
file
format
varia,ons
No
file
standards
What
makes
workflow
difficult?
It’s
the
stuff
nightmares
are
made
of.
7. Another
problem
is
language.
• “Print
side”
versus
“Web
side”
• CMYK
versus
RGB
• 300
dpi
versus
72
ppi
• Inches
versus
pixels
• PDF
versus
PNG
• Which
route
is
be^er?
• Where
do
tablet
edi:ons
fit
then?
They
are
a
digital
product…
8. What’s
common
to
both?
HTML
(or
HyperText
Markup
Language)
Defini,on:
a
set
of
standards,
used
to
tag
the
elements
of
a
hypertext
document.
It
is
a
text
descrip:on
language
that
is
used
for
electronic
publishing,
especially
on
the
web.
So
what
about
publishing
in
any
format
isn’t
electronic?
9. Who
has
heard
these
terms
to
describe
magazine
workflow?
• Print-‐Centric
• Web-‐Centric
• Mobile-‐Centric
• Content-‐Centric
• Any
thoughts
on
which
of
these
might
make
the
most
sense?
10. It
depends
on
who
you
ask.
• A
print
produc:on
person
–
Print-‐Centric
• A
interac:ve
webby
guy
–
Web-‐Centric
• A
few
industry
analysts
–
Mobile-‐Centric
• An
idealist
–
Content-‐Centric
11. In
fact,
this
slide
claims
to
represent
a
“prac:cal
HTML5
magazine
workflow”:
Source:
h^p://www.slideshare.net/
mkowalski1/developing-‐a-‐
prac:cal-‐html5-‐magazine-‐
workflow
Uh, where’s
the printed
magazine?
12. Where
then,
do
we
go
from
here?
• Unfortunately,
the
idealist’s
Content-‐Centric
workflow
does
not
exist
• Print-‐Centric
workflow
is
the
one
being
used
by
most
publishers
• Publishers
are
either:
– Too
heavily
invested
in
exis:ng
technology
– Unwilling
to
shid
to
a
new
way
of
thinking
• Or
both
13. Let’s
dig
into
Print-‐Centric.
• Most
publishers
are
knee-‐deep
in
legacy
systems
and
technology
– CMS
such
as
K4,
Woodwing
– Adobe
InDesign
– QuarkXpress
• Publishers
s:ll
rely
on
print
for
almost
90%
of
their
revenue
• Not
surprising
they
think
“print
first”
14. Condé
Nast
and
Adobe
h^p://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34f13csGLIs
• Condé
Nast
uses
Adobe
Digital
Publishing
Suite
to
produce
enhanced
digital
edi:ons
of
their
printed
magazine
• Their
approach
is
typical
of
many
publishers
who
think
“print
first”
15. The
typical
digital
edi:on
is
sta:c.
• Most
publishers
have
edi:ons
on
digital
newsstands
• Many
publishers
choose
print
circula:on
distributor
rela:onships
to
get
onto
digital
newsstands
• CDS
Global
• Dis:cor
• More
oden
than
not,
these
edi:ons
are
replicas
of
print
edi:ons
created
from
single
page
PDFs
16. Alterna:ve
solu:ons:
• Solu:ons
exist
that
allow
publishers
to
use
print
PDF
files
to
create
digital
edi:ons
– Issuu
–
3Dissue
– Uniflip
–
Zinio
– VirtualPaper
–
Turnit
– Adobe
Publishing
Suite
–
Texterity
• DIY
advantage
–
maintains
control
of
your
product
• Pricing
and
tools
vary
17. Great
digital
DIY
examples:
• The
Kit
h^p://www.thekit.ca/
– Started
as
a
digital-‐only
publica:on
– Originally
built
in
partnership
with
Texterity
• Covet
Garden
h^p://covetgarden.com/
– A
digital
magazine
accessed
on
their
website
– Uses
an
embedded
viewer
or
open
on
iPad
– Created
using
Issuu
18. Delivering
files
for
digital
edi:ons:
• The
majority
use
print
PDF
files
to
create
the
digital
edi:on
• Re-‐rip
the
PDF
to
tablet
viewer
specifica:ons
– Resolu:on,
RGB
colour-‐space
– Create
a
jpeg
file
– Two
files
delivered
for
each
page
• PDF
for
zooming
in
• jpeg
for
fast
view
19. To
find
efficiency,
I
start
here.
• Build
a
smart
workflow
– Address
requirements
for
all
edi:ons/plalorms
• Automate
pain
points
– Sodware
and
script
within
applica:ons
• Share
resources
across
plalorms
– Mul:purpose
content
as
much
as
possible
Finding
efficiency
across
plaYorms
requires
a
bit
more
crea,vity.
20. Crea:ng
PDF
files
is
the
easy
part.
• Using
any
design
applica:on:
– PDFX-‐1a
is
a
standard
senng
– Customized
job
op:on
senngs
can
be
imported
to
accommodate
digital
edi:on
vendor’s
PDF
file
specifica:ons
• If
your
premedia
process
is
automated,
both
print
and
digital
edi:on
files
can
be
created
simultaneously
• PDF
files
can
be
created,
named
and
delivered
to
each
vendor/supplier
21. Now
the
job
is
done,
so
what?
• We
have
two
iden:cal
sta:c
edi:ons
of
the
magazine,
one
print
and
one
digital
• Enhancing
the
sta:c
digital
edi:on
pages
happens
once
the
PDF
files
are
uploaded
to
the
vendor
• Typically,
you
can
enhance
by
adding:
– URL
links
– Sound
clips
– Embedded
video
Some
might
call
that
boring
or
a
waste
of
the
plaYorm’s
biggest
asset
–
digital
capability.
22. Evidence
of
the
boring
factor.
Source:
h^p://deadtreeedi:on.blogspot.ca/
23. Some
applica:ons
are
more
flexible.
• Adobe
Digital
Publishing
Suite,
Woodwing
and
Virtual
Publisher
are
all
print/digital
edi:on
Content
Management
Systems
• Each
works
with
InDesign
within
the
CMS
and
allows
the
designer
to:
– create
versions
for
mul:ple
plalorms
– view
on
mul:ple
device
templates
• CMS
can
manage
internal
workflow
and
integrate
editorial
with
ad
material
25. Some
magazine
content
is
published
on
websites.
• There
are
a
few
ways
to
make
that
happen:
– You
can
cut
and
paste
– Someone
else
can
cut
and
paste
• Unfortunately,
with
all
this
terrific
technology,
and
the
whole
publishing
process
being
digital,
in
a
Print-‐Centric
workflow
–
this
is
the
best
cross-‐plalorm
solu:on
we’ve
got.
26. To
bridge
the
gap.
• Some
website
developers
have
created
sodware
to
help
you
manage
content:
– Agility
CMS
– Wordpress
– Squarespace
There
are
several
more,
but
Agility
is
very
ac,ve
with
publishers,
will
customize
their
solu,on
and
help
clients
get
rolling.
27. S:ll,
it’s
cut
and
paste.
• To
avoid
cut
and
paste,
there
are
ways
to
take
copy
from
InDesign
and
plop
it
into
Wordpress.
– PageZepher
from
Markzware
indexes
content
and
exports
to
Wordpress
– Export
from
InDesign
as
XML
and
import
into
Wordpress
(this
ac:on
can
be
automated)
But
it
ain’t
pre]y.
A
lot
of
work
needs
to
be
done
by
the
web
editor.
28. Images
are
another
thing.
• Automa:on
can
be
used
share
resources
between
print
and
web
• Scrip:ng
sodware
such
as
Enfocus
Powerswitch
can
be
set
up
to
convert
image
files,
then
deliver
them
to
web
editors
– CMYK
to
RGB
– 300dpi
to
72ppi
(or
whatever
is
required)
– Determine
flow
based
on
file
type
• .ai
goes
through
Illustrator
• anything
else
through
Photoshop
29. Could
it
be
easier?
• Yes
• A
content-‐centric
approach
could
benefit
all
plalorms,
but
applica:ons
to
support
that
workflow
for
print
edi:ons
do
not
exist
• Not
to
men:on
dyed-‐in-‐the-‐wool
print
tradi:onalists
–
convincing
them
to
change
is
like
pulling
teeth
30. Is
it
possible
to
work
another
way?
• Who
knows
what
responsive
design
is?
• Consider
responsive
design
templates
and
how
that
works
• HTML5,
CSS
and
tagging
content
– HyperText
Markup
Language
– Cascading
Style
Sheets
• Different
styles
can
be
applied
depending
on
the
output
device
being
used
• Digital
versions
can
be
different
from
printed
versions,
designers
can
tailor
the
presenta:on
of
elements
for
each
plalorm
31. Responsive
–
you’ve
been
served.
Elements
are
served
depending
on
screen
dimensions,
pixels
per
inch.
32. Torontoist
website
is
responsive.
• Elements
are
reconfigured
depending
on
what
device
you
are
viewing
the
website
on
• Try
it
on
your
desktop,
mobile
device,
tablet
• Try
Chatelaine.com
too
33. And
why
not
a
page
of
a
magazine?
• Depends
on
who
you
ask
• Allows
for
content
focus,
i.e.
Content-‐Centric
• Some
edi:ng
would
be
required
– Audience
considera:ons
• Yet,
for
moving
content
around
in
a
workflow
for
mul:ple
devices,
tagging
would
be
an
ideal
solu:on
• Thoughts?
34. Ques:ons?
• Fire
away
• Who
is
seeing
Wes
Bos
this
adernoon?
• Thank
you
for
listening
• Keep
in
touch:
kimlatreille@gmail.com
Twi^er:
@kim_elle
h^p://kimlatreille.tumblr.com