Week 10 Report

Features I liked and why: Invertiew features an archive of old magazine covers. While the editorial content doesn't all appear on the Web site, almost every issue's cover from years past is viewable online. It's interesting to see how the magazine's cover has evolved and all of the various aspects Interview has employed to spur newsstand sales. It's always fun to see old covers of magazines, so I really enjoyed this aspect of the site.

What's not working with the site: I wish the covers could be enlarged. The thumbnails they have don't facilitate the reading of sell lines and such.

What's not there that I'd like to see: I'd like to see more brand enhancements or user gifts such as desktop wallpaper versions of covers or downloadable screensavers of past photo shoots. Some extra products would be nice and increase a person's reasons for returning to the site.

How the competitors' sites compare: Apart from Vanity Fair's redesign last week, there's not much to report. Content for all competitors is produced in around the same frequency, although the topics they cover sometimes varies. For example, Interview covers elite parties, whereas W may not.

Week 9 Report

Features I liked and why: The Calendar section of the Web site features an interactive calendar of events. Clicking on a bolded date will display a list of events on the right-hand side, while links to ticket information or related articles appears underneath the "fold." Users may also subscribe to the calendar through Apple's iCal, which is a nice touch, although I don't know how useful it would be to the average person. Overall, it's a great feature that extends that celebrity access to common folk.

What's not working with the site: Pretty much the same as other weeks.

What's not there that I'd like to see: Why can't I add it directly to Google's Calendar? Although iCal is uploadable to Google, it would make sense to offer it in more formats.

This is especially interesting considering Apple has only a sliver of the home computing market.

If Interview is targeting the iPhone crowd, however, then this is a smart move, otherwise it's confusing.

How the competitors' sites compare: Vanity Fair redesigned its Web site to be more streamlined. It features the traditional revolving image-with-title widget, but the clutter on the left- and right-hand sides has been cleaned up. The site now falls in line with other Condé Nast offerings, which is a little disheartening as the layouts now all resemble the same parent company, not necessarily the editorial direction of the individual magazine.

Week 8 Report

Features I liked and why: Interview's Video section is fairly interesting, with behind-the-scenes look at photo shoots, parties, etc. that you don't normally see on other magazine Web sites. A lot of this has to do with humanizing these high-profile personalities, while also offering something beyond the staticness of the magazine. I think Interview'll do a great job of integrating these videos into its iPad app. Or at least I hope it does...

What's not working with the site: Some of the sections, like Promotions, are never updated, which is frustrating.

What's not there that I'd like to see: Interview updating it's neglected aspects of the site.

How the competitors' sites compare: Vanity Fair actually has its own social networking site for fans of its magazine, which is a fairly interesting extension of its brand. It looks like they

use the data for marketing efforts, but it's ambitious of Condé Nast to offer user's a chance

to vent with other Vanity Fair enthusiasts on a semi-private and well-kept Web site.

Week 7 Report

Features I liked and why: A new feature to the Web site is the Cultural Roulette. After clicking on the roulette icon, a random Web page appears from any one of the categories offered. I thought this feature was cool because it lets you get lost within Interview's Web site while reading articles you may never knew existed. While some of the content is hit-or-miss, most is interesting and engenders repeat clicks.

What's not working with the site: While the Web site offers a lot of content to sift through, its commenting system really limits interaction. I'd like to see more opportunities to interact within the site, be it a forum or what have you. I think implementing a chat system would be great because then you could have everyday folk gain their 15 minutes by commenting on the hyper-elite.

What's not there that I'd like to see: I suppose that chat feature I mentioned above, although that's just an idea. Of course, adding too many features to the Web site may turn some people off. So I would just suggest updating the current login system's array of features by expanding what you can do with your personal library, as mentioned in a previous post.

How the competitors' sites compare: W Magazine seems to have stopped with the popups asking for my subscription dollars, which is nice. Other than that, they all look the same. :/