Trouble in Paradise

So far I have tried to show how Vogue is adapting to the new Digital Age. My main point was that the magazine is successful at adapting and perhaps even one step ahead of other fashion magazines.

Of course there will be someone who will disagree with me, so I tried to find opinions that contradict mine. I found these to articles that I want to share with you.

Has Vogue Been A Little Slow On The Digital Uptake?

by Contributor on October 16, 2012

Read more at http://www.fashionotes.com/content/2012/10/has-vogue-been-a-little-slow-on-the-digital-uptake/#yy213gcfCqpoUUDl.99 

Vogue is a fashion magazine. But, its not just any fashion magazine, it’s the biggest fashion magazine in the world. In fact, it’s much more than that; Vogue is not merely a magazine, which reports on the trends of the day, it defines them. If your shoes aren’t in Vogue, they just aren’t in. You might expect a magazine which has made its fortune keeping abreast of trends so well to be the first publisher to take to digital media, but not so. In fact, Vogue has been surprisingly slow on the uptake – so much so, I was beginning to think that by the time Vogue got into digital platforms, digital platforms would no longer be in Vogue.

In all seriousness though, Vogue has now managed to launch some apps, after years of prevarication. Their iPad app came out around a year after the iPad “Got Big,” and that certainly seemed like long enough at the time. The 52-year-old editor of British Vogue, Alexandra Shulman, has fully admitted to being a ‘neophyte’ when it comes to technology in an interview with the Telegraph.

“It has been much more work and much more complex to build and create it and work out what we were doing than I expected,” Shulman told the paper.

No surprises there; the senior editors who run Vogue publications clearly aren’t au fait with modern gadgets – and that’s OK.

But then, they did hire some top-notch designers and developers with the aim of creating a sleek and stylish app, which would represent Vogue’s ideals in digital space. Elegance, modernity, style, surely that’s what you would expect when you load up the Vogue app on your iPad? Unfortunately, it’s not what you get. It’s full of lush, beautiful photographs of women in sweeping dresses taken by Mario Testino, Peruvian fashion photographer. When you make an app that relies on massively detailed images for every page, what do you think’s going to happen? The app is ridiculously slow; I could make an award-winning dress in the time it takes to load a page, never mind downloading.

Photo By Mario Testino

This in itself is not a disaster; apps go through many versions before they’re perfected and Vogue is no different. Nobody gets it right first time, it must be said. But, if Vogue had actually joined the smartphone and tablet revolution at the outset, rather than halfway through, they could have long since resolved these issues. As it is, they’re simply blundering along, hoping that a sub-standard app will keep the masses happy. Maybe there’s a point to it all. Perhaps pixels will never be as beautiful as ink and apps simply aren’t the right platform for Vogue to waste too much time on. But then, digital media really is in Vogue at the moment, isn’t it? And, nobody’s asking Vogue whether or not they should buy a smartphone.

Most of the time Vogue dictates trends. In the world of digital publishing however, it’s still playing catch-up.

By Simon Drew,  writer for UK phone comparison service Best Mobile Contracts

Read more at http://www.fashionotes.com/content/2012/10/has-vogue-been-a-little-slow-on-the-digital-uptake/#yy213gcfCqpoUUDl.99 


Personally I cannot say anything about the Vogue iPad add since I don't own any Apple products. Of course it makes sense that the App is still imperfect because it still relatively new. The Internet wasn't as fast as it is now in the 1990's. Everything is work in progress but saying that App platform isn't right for Vogue and maybe they should not waste time on it is wrong.  Apps are a very important marketing tool,  if Vogue didn't have an app they would have fallen behind on sales etc. Apps are important to keep up with time but they need work and as I already said everything is work in progress. 


This article talks about the Vogue website. I cannot completely agree with this because I personally haven't seen the problems with the website that this article is talking about. Other problem with the article that it talks about the website in a very web design oriented manner. It seems like it was written by a web designer for other web designers. Perhaps common people like me and you would have not noticed the defaults of the website that the article mentions.  

All publishers should learn lessons from Vogue’s new website launch | 06 Sep 2012

Sometimes, being at the cutting edge of fashion isn’t the most sensible strategy.

Right now, in the world of digital publishing, HTML5* is about as fashionable and as cutting edge as you can get. The publishing prize that HTML5 offers is the possibility of building a web page that will automatically rearrange its component parts (pictures, headlines, text, navigation) to display well on any and all screens – from the largest desktop monitor to the titchiest smartphone display – using responsive design (see the background note at the bottom of this blog). In practice, publishers trying out HTML5 – which is still in development – have found it quite a task to get anything other than simple, text-heavy layouts to work predictably for all browsers and all devices, and at the moment the prize is proving somewhat elusive.

So when the UK edition of Vogue announced that it had completely rebuilt its website using HTML5, it got me very excited indeed. This is a complex, luxurious publishing product that is very far removed from simple, text-heavy layouts – and Vogue claims that it now has “…a more beautiful, authoritative and technically advanced fashion website than ever before”.

Sadly, it seems clear to me that the website was launched before it was ready.

Dolly Jones, the website’s editor, states that by “capitalising on the smartest innovation going, we could not be in better shape to continue to dominate the sector”. Proud, confident words, that come after eight months of development work. Perhaps they should have spent another couple of months doing some more testing…

Two minutes with a modern smartphone (a Galaxy SII) showed that there’s quite a bit more work to do before the site is ready for Android. The screengrab to the left shows a news item, where the picture of Signor Pilati is supposed to fit neatly to the width of the screen – but instead has ballooned out of control, resulting in a closeup of a pillar behind his left ear. The one on the right shows a list view of the news section, and you can see that the list has lost its neat ranged-left formatting, with some pictures large and centred, others knocked down to thumbnails, and text/headlines all over the place.

Even with a normal desktop browser, things do not always function as they should. I saw pictures trying to resize themselves several times before settling on a final shape, images that wouldn’t download in a particular browser until the page was refreshed, and a general ‘looseness’ that suggested the underlying rules for how the pages should adapt hadn’t been specified in sufficient detail. In the screengrab on the right you can see that the pic of Natalia holding the Olympic torch has drifted away from its accompanying story, while the model from Agent Provocateur has invaded her own news story.

It seems obvious to me that the website was launched before it was properly fit for viewing. How did this happen? I have no insider knowledge, but an understanding of publishing processes suggests some possible factors:
1) They didn’t do enough testing, and so didn’t uncover the issues.
2) They knew there were still bugs, but were compelled to launch before they were ready by an internally-determined deadline.
3) They were compelled to launch, ready or not, because of deadline promises made to advertisers.

Some of Vogue‘s fans have already left fulsome plaudits on the new website. But I suspect that other people will have gone to the new website, found the same problems that I did (and that was only a ten-minute scrutiny using three devices – it seems likely to me that there will be other issues that I didn’t spot in my short appraisal), and have gone away with their opinion of the Vogue brand diminished – not demolished, just diminished, because underneath it all you can see that there is a bold and interesting website waiting to be finished. And I suspect that this sad outcome was avoidable.

The object of this blog is not to say that HTML5 isn’t going to be very useful for publishers when it finally comes of age, because it will be; nor am I having a pop at Vogue for trying to be a digital publishing innovator, because I applaud its intent, and I hope it will be able to fix all the issues in short order.

What I am saying is that there is a very simple lesson here for all publishing professionals thinking about their digital strategy – and that is, if you’re going to innovate, make sure it works properly before you launch. And if it doesn’t work properly by the planned launch date,postpone the launch until it’s fixed. The timing of every launch should be in the publisher’s gift – don’t sacrifice the chance to make a brilliant launch instead of a flawed launch by mortgaging this precious gift to the suits or the advertisers, and don’t hem yourself in by setting arbitrary deadlines that you later wish you hadn’t.

Mark Rosselli is chairman of CPL

So these are the two articles that contradict what I have been saying previously in this blog.Its interesting that Vogue tries to promote itself as innovative, how they organise these talks about digital age and fashion but then there are these articles that kind of destroy the image that Vogue is trying to achieve. I don't completely agree with them but its nice to read something different and see two sides of the story.

Advertising and Print Media - Vogue

Advertising is part of the Print Media - to exist most magazines require the income that they receive from adverts. Otherwise the price of the publication will be too high and that would repel the customers. 

New media publishers will not only have opportunities to reach global audiences with multimedia products in real time, but will also be able to completely rethink their relationship with advertisers and audience (Kovarik, B. (2011) Revolutions in Communications: Media History from Gutenberg to the Digital Age, London: Continuum).  

That is exactly what I want to talk about - the relationship between Vogue and advertising. Since its a fashion magazine advertisement place a huge role but with all this new technology and possibilities the way the advertisement is done is changing.  

In the past years the Quick Response Code (QR Code) has become a very popular tool for advertisement. 

Formerly only for industrial uses, they have in recent years become common in consumer advertising and packaging, because the popularity of smartphones "has put a barcode reader in everyone's pocket"^{[citation needed]} for the first time. As a result, the QR Code has become a focus of advertising strategy, since it provides quick and effortless access to the brand's website.^[8][9]Beyond mere convenience to the consumer, the importance of this capability is that it increases the conversion rate (that is, increase the chance that contact with the advertisement will convert to a sale), by coaxing qualified prospects further down the conversion funnel without any delay or effort, bringing the viewer to the advertiser's site immediately, where a longer and more targeted sales pitch may continue (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QR_code).

There are of course social media platforms like FACEBOOK, TWITTER, TUMBLR, PINTEREST that I have discussed in previous posts. They are the new tools of marketing. 

But the reason why I decided to talk about advertisement is this website that I found.

http://www.thedigitalage.com/gallery/Vogue-Enhanced/2371852

Some Swedish students made this interesting advertising project for some company using Vogue as an example.

Basically they were exploring the future of magazine advertisement. I thought it was a very interesting concept that they were exploring. If you just scan, with a smartphone,  a picture of a item featured in  Vogue then your smart phone will go to the items brand website where you could buy the item or explore others. So in a way that would be every girls dream come true - you see something pretty, you buy it, and not you see something pretty, you look for it for the next 2 months.

The development of media of mass communication has gradually seen the decline of print as the dominant form communication and the rise of audio - visual domain (Rayner, P. Wall, P. Kruger, S.2004 Media Studies: The Essentials Resource, London: Routledge). Fortunately print media managed to embrace the audio - visual domain ( Vogue iPad version with mini videos of photo shoot and some images actually moving) but perhaps now Vogue adverts will start to embrace it as well. At least it seems that some one is already trying to promote this concept. It is exciting to see where the digital age is taking us.

Closer Look at Vogue 2

Previously I looked at Vogue Official Website to understand the transformation that Vogue went through because of the digital revolution. Now I will look on other social media platforms that arrived from the digital revolution  in the past couple of years.

Twitter: 

 

So this is Vogues Twitter page. It can be seen that Vogue homepage and Twitter are very closely connected. All the stories that can be read on their homepage are tweeted or in other words promoted on their Twitter. They also tweet about other topics like food - for example they tweeted about some Halloween cupcakes. Mostly what is tweeted has something to do with the upcoming holidays or what is written on the official website or the magazine, of course some tweets have more of a promotional vibe. The picture shared on this account create a illusion of personal moments of Vogue girls (Vogue employees) being shared with the readers. This gives 800 000 something followers of Vogue the opportunity to be a apart of the posh Vogue lifestyle and be the first to get a glimpse at a new issue of the magazine.

It can also be noted that the tweets are very frequent, there are at least one or two every hour. This supports the idea, that was mentioned previously that print medias (Vogue) content has to be more up to date and the process of getting the content out there needs to be faster. Not to mention that now magazines need to have a discussion with their readers and what better platform for that then Twitter. Out of all the social media platforms at Vogues disposal Twitter is the most interactive one. 

Facebook: 

This is British Vogue Facebook page. It is open to anyone, so that means anyone can like it and have access to the information available on that page. The post on Facebook mostly differ from the tweets that are posted on Twitter. The information on Facebook is not so up to date as on Twitter and perhaps not so interactive. People mostly just press the like button on the post that they like and that where the interaction ends. Of course some more active Facebook users comment and share the post. 

Interesting thing about Vogue Facebook is that you can see all of the important events that have happened in Vogues history  on the timeline.  

The pictures (of wish I don't have a print screen) that are shared on Vogue Facebook and then put into an Album are much more different from those on Twitter but much more similar to those in the magazine. You could say that Facebook is a bit more formal then Twitter and its an extension of the Vogue homepage while as Twitter is more personal and laid back and more promotional, meaning that Vogue Twitter mainly only promotes the magazine,  new places to go out and eat or events that people who aspire to be part of the fashion clique would want to go.  

Tumblr:

This is Vogue Tumblr. Tumblr is basically a collection of images. This social media platform doesn't require much interaction. Of course people have the choice of writing something to the user but mostly people just reblog pictures. On this Tumblr it is possible to find pictures from Vogue from different years. So in a way this website is a archive of images that have been featured in British Vogue. Before the Internet to have access to these pictures it would have meant buying and looking for the old copies of the magazine which would have taken a lot of time and resources.

Pinterest: 

This is a new social media platform that has been gaining popularity on the Internet. Pinterest is similar to Tumblr but instead of just sharing images they are in albums - more like mood boards. So basically Pinterest is an online mood board. Again this is not a place for direct interaction but a place to reblog and like images. Here Vogue images are more organised then on Tumblr but it is also just a archive of Vogue images with some added albums with pictures that perhaps inspire the Vogue girl.

In conclusion it is fair to say that Vogue has expanded its brand and now is available on different social platforms that appeal to a very wide range of people. The content of the magazine is becoming more available, meaning that people now have easy access to images and articles that have been published in Vogue over the years of its existence and also that the readers will have some kind of idea of what to expect from the new issue because of the social media.

Because of the digital age the magazine and its social platforms have become more of a promotional tool. On all of the social medias its written what to buy, what kind of music is cool right now because the fashion editor is "listening" to it or where is the healthiest food place. Because of this change Vogue is now not just merely a fashion "bible", as it has been called in the past years but more of a luxury lifestyle magazine. All in all everything that Vogue has done digitally/ on the Internet has been successful, of course it might be because of  the long history behind the name, but in any case the magazine has been one of the first ones to branch into Internet. 

Personally I really liked the Vogue Website. It was very different to different fashion related website that I have seen previously and that I read everyday. I wish other magazines would work on their online appearance to make it stand out more.

VOGUE: Fashion in the digital age

So Vogue organised an talk/event back in 2010 about the digital age. The event was basically a way to promote the Vogue app that was launched that month.  Vogue wanted to create a discussion about the fashion industry in our time, show how the industry has changed and talk about what actually changed and what stayed the same. Its an hour long talk between Robin Derreck, Vogues creative director and a popular fashion blogger with whom I personally wasn't familiar.

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/vogue-fashion-in-digital-age/id419773310

The talk is also available as an audio recording. You would require iTunes to listen to it/watch it.  The topics that were discussed were:

• Role of creative director 
• Photography - digital, moving image etc. 
• Fashion brands and how they engage with their audience
• Vogue in the digital age 

For this project the last topic was the most interesting one. Robin Derreck presented the Vogue app for iPad . Robin Derreck commented on the online presents of a magazine by saying that it still needs to have the quality of a glossy magazine but it needs to sparkle a discussion. He also said that by having an online presents brands (Vogue) create communities which make them obligated to update their websites 365 days per year. He tries to show that in a way Vogue is becoming part of the entertainment industry  if they want to remain relevant they need to engage their readers every day, now days it cannot be just once a month.

He also discussed the app by saying that its an extension of the magazine. It still has the same content but with added videos in between pictures, or for example the model from the picture will walk up to the screen. So the app is the more entertaining version of the magazine.

Robin Derreck also mentioned that Vogue used to be "stiff", six girls (cover girls/super models) and six photographers but that now thanks to the digital age Vogue has become a lot more open to new talents and more daring with their content.

Personally I found the talk very interesting because it was discussed by a person who work in the industry for more then 25 years and has witnessed it evolve. He also wasn't shy to point out the mistakes that some brands have made or situations where maybe the brands should have taken different actions. It was nice to see a critical view of the industry in the digital age. I also liked that creative director of Vogue was giving the talk because it gave an opportunity to see the man behind the creative ideas of Vogue and hear from him how the magazine has adopted to the digital revolution.  He also gave an short introduction to the app and discussed why some things were done and how he worked on the app.

All in all the talk was very informative. It has supported some of the points that were previously discussed in this blog like how the content of the website needs to be updated every day and how they need to work much faster but it has also brought up some new points which I personally have not though of - like Vogue becoming some sort of entertainer. Of course those were not word used in the talk but that is what I got from it. The talk also shows that Vogue is quick to adapted to changes and is not trying to resist them and that it is trying more ways to create a discussion with their audience. In other words Vogue is trying to have a bigger part in our lives and at the same time embracing the digital age.

Vogue embraces the digital age

This link is to an article by the Guardian about how (French) Vogue is embracing the digital age with their

website relaunch. The interview is with Emmanuelle Alt, editor in chief of Vogue Paris.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/fashion/fashion-blog/2012/feb/06/french-vogue-relaunch

Here are some highlights from the interview :

Guardian Fashion: What would you say to someone who thinks that the glossiness of Vogue should be something you sit and flick through rather than look at on a computer screen?

Emmanuelle Alt: Vogue is the absolute reference for fashion and trends. This is clear for the print version, and must be the case everywhere. Vogue must also be the fashion authority on the Internet, and on all digital channels. The Vogue Paris Twitter account is the most influential in France for all these reasons, and the new Vogue Paris website will also fulfill this role. The digital world and the press do not have the same temporality, but they each reflect the Vogue DNA.

Do you see a time when magazines as physical objects will simply cease to exist? And are the magazine's sales at risk from things being seen on the website?

EA: I think it's absurd to think that the magazine could be replaced by the website, as these two platforms for Vogue's know-how and expertise complement each other. One will not substitute the other. The print version will always remain a platform for the expression of creativity and inspiration, while the site remains above all else, a news and information outlet. I would even go further, to say that like our social networks, the site is still recruiting new readers for the magazine, which also makes it a source of sales development.

What are the key differences in working on a print magazine and a digital one and how to you see the two things co-existing? How does it change the role of editor-in-chief?

EA: The biggest difference is temporality, which means that we have to produce content on a daily basis. The physical format, and the use and functionalities of the web also influence specific content, which is by its nature different from the magazine. What is important to us, however, is that our readers, our users, our fans and our followers, expect Vogue to bring them the hottest, most exclusive news; to guide them through the ocean of new products to make fail-safe choices, and to be in the know before the rest.

So Emmanuelle Alt sees the the digital media as a way of expanding the Vogue brand. It is interesting that she says that the website (digital media) helps to attract new readers and that she doesn't believe that hard copies of the magazine will ever cease to exist. In recent years there has been panics that with all the cutting down the number of staff and with dropping readership the print media will eventually die out but as it can be read in this interview the editors remain positive.  

Emmanuelle Alt is not the only one, Wired magazines editor Chris Anderson sees the "app" economy helping to build value for publishers. "You can retain everything that makes a magazine great and then add three new things; the videos, the animation, the interesting, a social media layer," Anderson said.( "Kovarik, B. (2011) Revolutions in Communications: Media History from Gutenberg to the Digital Age, London: Continuum)  

"On-line services will coexist with print for the foreseeable future and maybe forever," says Stephen B. Shepard, editor in chief of Business Week. (Pavlik, V. P. (1998) New Media Technology: Cultural and Commercial perspectives, London: Allyn and Bacon) This only supports previous statements. Perhaps the digital revolution in the print world can be seen as a positive phenomena. 

Interestingly enough originally, the hope for digital media technology was simply that people would have more choice in selecting news reports. ( "Kovarik, B. (2011) Revolutions in Communications: Media History from Gutenberg to the Digital Age, London: Continuum)  As we can see the digital media evolved beyond that.