WIRED on iPad

Summary: "WIRED on iPad:  Just Like a Paper Tiger" discusses why designers should stray from traditional- problematic designs. Reichenstein illustrates the issues with the app's white columns. He states that while these designs are traditional and created to emulate the printed text; it force users into the 'paper model' and limits text space, which in turn forces the text to become fragmented and crowded. The author illustrates how much the potential there is for designs that do not conform to the printed image. How removing black lines could reduce clutter and removing columns could offer space. 

Reichenstein goes on to illustrate the issues with the app's overuse of advertisement. He warns that overuse of advertisement could make it difficult to discern the content from the advertisement and leave the user feeling cheated. Also that even the overuse of noncommercial graphics can make a design overcrowded, distracting, and basically obnoxious. 

He discusses how the app fails to provide an innovative digital magazine. He quotes the company's statement, "The future of magazines is now", then goes out to illustrate how the app fails to provide the innovative design they claim. That the company simply put print magazines into a digital setting and fails to utilize all of the potential that the digital medium provides. Which leaves the user with a mundane app that crams Information into confined a space and forces them to swipe endlessly to enjoy the material. 

Comment: It seems that WIRED has combined the negative qualities of both paper and digital mediums. The app has allowed for the magazine to be confined by spacial limitations as well as being unable to zoom, copy  and paste, or scroll. But has also overused digital advertisement and flashy graphics to distract the reader and overcrowd the page. I felt this article illustrated the potential of mediums when the the creator is able to separate the idea of text from its paper based origin. I found his suggestions to be innovative but simple. 

Question: Wired claims, "The Future of Magazines is Now", but do you believe this medium will survive to see the future? Will magazines become transformed by digitization or will it lead to their distinction? If you believe they will become transformed, what would need to be changed or added for magazines to remain relevant?