A Magazine That 'Gets' Digital

Recently, I posted about the evolving nature of magazines in the digital age.  I opined that not many construction trade magazines are yet dealing very effectively with the new delivery media.

That same day, I found out about one that's doing exactly what I'd been looking for:  Sustainable Construction, a recently-launch publication from Cyngus.  It's currently scheduled as a digital quarterly, with one issue per year also being published in hardcopy.  The publisher tells me that the print issue will be separately designed from the digital edition of the same issue.

Sustainable Construction is formatted in landscape mode, and the online version looks like it would fit an iPad screen, as well.  (Cygnus is also offering a free iPad app for the magazine.)  The pages are readable without going to "magnification mode," even on my laptop screen.  The ads are big and bright and full screen, too.  The overall effect is excellent.

Of course, it's totally appropriate and not even surprising for a sustainability magazine to be largely paperless.  The unusual thing is that they've jumped into digi-screen formatting, and done it well.

Bravo, Cygnus!  I hope other publishers are smart enough to follow in your footsteps, and build a new infrastructure for this valuable communications tradition.