AZURE Magazine is an internationally-recognized publication that delivers the latest trends in architecture, design and art in a stylish package. A bi-monthly publication, AZURE has a circulation of over 50,000 issues, and its circulation continues to grow. AZURE is a rising star, and they grew enough to realize that a world-class magazine needs a world-class Web site.

AZURE’s old site represented the magazine as a product, providing the usual information: the current issue, advertising information, how to subscribe. The site was lightly-trafficked, and the magazine staff kept its innovation within the pages of its growing magazine.

Figure 1: AZURE’s old site.

When AZURE approached FRANK, a Toronto-based design agency, they were met with ideas for promoting the site from a brochure to a powerful new publication in its own right. FRANK understands the Web, and how it has changed from a passive, broadcast experience, into a truly interactive entity. Those companies who embrace the Web, and who harness their readership, provide the most compelling experiences.

 

Figures 2-3. An initial wireframe of the design layout, and an early prototype of the web site design.

FRANK’s plan was to use AZURE’s editorial expertise to build a constantly-updating publication, always complete with the latest news and insight into the magazine’s core competency. The home page features a constant stream of updated news, along with always-impressive photography related to the article. The current issue of the magazine is also prominently featured. Here is where the reader finds real depth: the major content items from the magazine are presented in full on the site. Each issue also provides a viewable set of spreads from the magazine: if you haven’t seen AZURE in person, you’ll be able to experience the award-winning design that has made the magazine so successful.

 

Figures 4-5. AZURE’s live home page (current as of this writing) and a selection from the “View Spreads” feature: a Flash-based component that allows users to flip through the actual magazine.

The site also includes several services for its readers, which leverages the magazine’s authority in the design and architecture communities. A company Showcase features a directory of companies who offer products and services to the readership, while a Source directory offers up their latest products. There’s also an Event Calendar for exhibits, conferences and other events from around the world. And there’s a job board for industry positions.

All told, the AZURE site represents a very large undertaking. It was with great excitement that Innoveghtive accepted the responsibility for turning the vision of the site into reality. Working collaboratively with FRANK, Innoveghtive developed a highly sophisticated back-end content management system, integrating a great deal of front-end user functionality, a unique and innovative navigation structure, user registration and integration of an open source, award-winning banner advertising package. The complete turn-key package breaks the mould of conventional web development projects, offering the client unparallelled control over content and a compelling revenue generation model.

 

Figures 6-7. View of the Content Management System that Innoveghtive built for AZURE (left), and the OpenAds open source banner advertising software, which AZURE uses to post and manage advertising on their site.

The total project is composed of over 1000 files, and over 90,000 lines of code. As web sites go, that’s pretty substantial. The project kicked off in January of 2007, and culminated in a launch event on September 26, 2007, which saw the site’s first public introduction. Reaction was enthusiastic and extremely positive.

As with the magazine, the work of the Web site is never finished. Now that the site is live, FRANK and Innoveghtive will be tasked with continuing to hone the site, both polishing what’s there, and providing new capabilities. The publishers of Azure have the vision and a strong mandate to becoming “the” central resource for the architectural and design communities on the web. Innoveghtive is thrilled to have been a partner in bringing this vision to fruition.

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Amazon.com is the gold standard for the online buying experience. They have been there since the dawn of e-commerce, and their investments into the buying experience have made it the ultimate destination for book buyers all over the world.

Amazon’s secret sauce is very often its ability to “cross-sell”: knowing what you’ve been interested in before, it can make recommendations on related books that others have purchased. This technique has been applied in a number of different ways throughout the site. For example, when Amazon notices that some people buy similar books, they can create impromptu packaged deals of those books for others to buy at a discount.

Every five days or so, I receive an email from Amazon. These messages are generated automatically, and are based on books that I’ve either rated or purchased. The goal of these messages is to recommend other books that I’m interested in.

The problem is, their picks are about as accurate as my three-year-old with a colouring book.

That’s not very accurate.

Case in point: I received this today from Amazon:

As someone who has expressed interest in books about graphic design and programming…

Okay, so far, so good. I have, in fact, purchased books with these subjects.

you may be interested to know what leading graphic artists and special effects developers are reading to stay on top of their game.

Woah. I get the relation between graphic design and graphic artists, but it’s a pretty big leap between programming and special effects developers! What follows are some suggestions from the SIGGRAPH conference: a trade show for computer graphic artists. Those titles include seven books, none of which were the least bit interesting.

The emails that come asking about my interest in children’s books (gifts for my daughter), young adult novels (my wife) or pulp action (my dad) are way out!

Think of it this way: have you ever received a gift from someone who doesn’t really know you? With the best of intentions, they hear that you’re into computers, so they give you a random piece of Windows software. Problem being, you are using a Mac, and even if you did run Windows, you have no use for some extravagant upgrade. So while you’re touched at the attempt, you’re secretly disappointed they didn’t go the whole way, and find out what you’re really into.

So too with Amazon. Every five days, it’s Christmas and I’m getting something that doesn’t quite fit. In several ways, their cross-selling technology works very well; in their email messaging, it’s out to lunch.

Solutions? Here’s a crazy thought. Rather than attempting to guess my preferences through such sneaky methods as past purchases (which often include gifts for others), why not just ask? I’d be happy to be invited to go through some possible choices and fine-tune my preferences.

It would sure make a gold-standard buying experience even better.

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