PORT
PORT magazine’s iPad app launched early last month. We downloaded it before seeing the print edition of the magazine. And, interestingly, as we navigated our way through it, we found ourselves, well… satisfied.
Serious hype surrounded the launch of the magazine’s print edition, and like everyone else we were looking forward to getting our hands on it. But while flipping through the app for the first time, we were completely satisfied. It was clear, quickly, we didn’t need the print edition to fully enjoy PORT. So much so, if there’s an app accompanying the magazine’s second issue, we’ll happily purchase it over the print alternative.
Specifically (nerd alert, nerd alert!), here are some design/navigation elements within the PORT app we love:
The white border/margin running around the perimeter of the Spring Essentials Style Briefing section… a simple way to contain the section within the app;
The counter showing where the user is within a slideshow/gallery… it makes sense to adopt certain website design fundamentals;
The combination of down and left-to-right navigation within the app creates pace and variation;
Photography running across screens gives the same feeling as a spread within a printed magazine… it’s a nod to what’s come before without any nasty page-turn metaphors;
It’s easy to lose one’s place inside an app… the red-coloured ‘slugs’ within the Commentary section work well in down-reading articles; and
Photography looks ace on an iPad, there’s no denying it. The highlight of the first PORT app for us is the Greenland feature… it contains lush imagery running across numerous screens.
The app is available to download for free from iTunes. Go get it if you haven’t already. Oh, BTW, the print edition is sold out.