Yes, I’m blogging about paper. My digital magazine conversion, a conversation with a student yesterday, and this article from Folio – about SPIN’s new print/digital strategy – are making me think more about the dead-tree stuff. What do I miss, even just a little, about paper magazines? What qualities truly can’t be replicated in digital formats (always with the caveat…yet)?
I think that print magazines will become more and more rare, and those that persist on paper will be the few whose content either truly necessitates or successfully capitalizes on the unique qualities of paper that cannot be replicated in digital forms.
To me, those unique qualities include:
- Physical feel of the texture of paper: dependent on the paper stock used by a publication; could (or even should) be distinctive for different types of magazines; adds another layer of sensory experience that can interact pleasantly with content
- Immediacy: no power switch, no downloading, no crashing, no delay; content is immediately available
- “Flippability”: the ease of flipping through pages; currently tedious with digital formats
- Status symbols: the desire to display one’s magazines publicly; the iPad’s Newsstand icon just wouldn’t satisfy if this were a concern
- Collectibility: the ability to create a visible, physical collection of a magazine’s issues, for the sheer pleasure of gathering them; may or may not overlap with their status symbol function, depending on the magazine and the individual
- Visibility: the physical presence of a magazine in a room has an effect (I have been known to finish reading, but not immediately recycle, fitness-related magazines because leaving them around the house reminds me to strive for good health, and because I’m weird like that); physical presence may also be a more obvious reminder to engage with the magazine/brand (e.g., simply to read it, as opposed to having to check with an app for a new issue)
- Shareability: the capacity to easily give someone else the ability to read content; still not fully integrated into many digital magazines
- Contemplation: related to visibility; some content may lend itself better to sustained viewing on paper rather than a backlit or E Ink screen, such as art
- …and others?
A number of these qualities are reflected in Folio’s description of SPIN’s new strategy. Despite the advantages that an all-digital format would so obviously provide a music magazine, SPIN will continue publishing in print, alongside various digital products. However, it will use heavier paper stock (enhancing its physical feel); it will publish less frequently (enhancing its perceived value for status/collectible purposes); and it will aim for a blend of magazine and “coffee table book” (enhancing the status, collectibility, visibility, and contemplation qualities). To me, all of SPIN’s moves make sense as ways to anticipate both the diminishing role of paper and the intensifying need to justify the expense and environmental impact of its use.
Are there other qualities we should add to this list to capture the specific aspects of paper that only it as a medium can provide to a magazine, from the reader perspective?
