We've all seen Minority Report and Harry Potter where newspapers and magazines come to life with animation and vibrant, dynamic content. Well those days are finally coming closer. American Magazine "Entertainment Weekly" has launched a video in their print magazine by inserting a small screen device into a thin piece of cardboard to show trailers, adverts, etc.

Entertainment Weekly are the first major magazine to try combining traditional editorial methods with the digital age and it could be the start of something special.

As with all new technology pilots, the system isn't perfect. "Chip technology is used to store the video - described as similar to that used in singing greeting cards - which is activated when the page is turned" (BBC, 2009). However the current system is clunky and has a lag making adverts not appear instantly.

Some critics are also arguing that the cost will have a big impact on its success, especially as the internet already delivers these opportunities to engage consumers free of charge. Despite these issues, I think that this (with the right investment of time and money) could really be a stepping stone in the print world embracing digital.

Related links:

• Video screens hit paper magazines article and video 
• Entertainment Weekly
  

From paper to electronic paper. Designers have to make the idea that we're going to think for this new medium: a mix between the screen and the printed matter. Everybody knows Amazon's Kindle, but since the newspaper's collapse it seems that electronic paper would be the innovative solution.

Plastic Logic is presenting their reader and publishing application. This flexible electronic media would be available in 2010.

British Designers Create Italian Branding for Bahraini Restaurant

SHH has created a full branding package - including identity, environmental graphics, signage, menus, place settings and staff uniforms - for a new restaurant and takeaway concept called "Italiano", set to open this month. The first Italiano outlet, located in the food court of the Al A'ali Mall in Bahrain's capital city Manama, has been undertaken for client Al-Hilal Enterprises Group, for whom SHH recently designed and branded the highly successful Nu Asia new-build restaurant (about to roll out to a new second site in Bahrain). Continue reading...