While the News publishing industry is still trying to figure out how it will monetize content online, the comic book industry, in the form of a new online digital format, is moving ahead.  Marvel Comics has had a free iPhone and iPad app since April and now DC comics is trailing close behind with their own apps. With digital comic books selling anywhere from $0.99 to $2.99, this format is taking off and users want more of it.  I imagine graphic novels will soon follow.

I know first-hand from reading a comic book on the iPad that the experience is visually stunning. The ability to zoom-in and pan on image blocks makes it even more appealing than the print equivalent. Though I suspect there will always be a limited edition print product for years to come. After all, you can’t really call the digital edition a collectible.

Perhaps the rest of the publishing industry can learn something here. Readers want options and they like to consume content that is visually appealing. Maybe the news industry can take a page from the comics (no pun intended) and allow users to consume content in a more visually interesting manner. One of the things Newspapers aren’t doing enough of is leveraging their archives to bring a more cohesive content offering to the table. This, coupled with a better digital format, perhaps scrap-booked around topics, would make for a very powerful online product. Another thing to keep an eye on is Marvel’s Xbox Live-style subscription model. They offer an annual plan for $60.00 per year. This makes it affordable to pretty much anyone.

The difference here is that comics are for a wider audience and newspapers are traditionally meant for a local audience. While most metro dailies are still looking for that local market to go online, maybe it’s time to start broadening the market to a wider web audience.  At any rate, we should keep a closer eye on what the comic books are doing digitally to monetize their product – there is something to be learned here.

Check out the digital editions for comic books:

http://www.comixology.com/

http://marvel.com/digitalcomics/

Shopping for clothes online can be tricky business.  It’s not always easy to know if standard sizes will fit and there is no way to try on the article. There have been some online applications over the years that allow you to do some custom fitting but you still risk whether or not the overall cut of the clothing is right for you. As a result, the likelihood of a return is higher and the customer walks away with the feeling that they can’t rely on the e-tailor’s online experience.

I recently came across an online clothier that has managed to offer tailor made shirts for their customers. Shirts My Way is a website that allows the customer to custom design every part of their shirt. You can mix and match from a catalogue of fabrics to get exactly what you want. In addition, you can choose the buttons, the style and enter your own measurements for the perfect fit. They do a great job of tutoring the customer through the process with online videos and step by step fitting.  Considering the complexity of designing your own tailor-made shirt, they make the experience quite painless. In playing around with the custom fitting application, it really only took about ten minutes of my time.

Best of all, it’s a smooth, non-flash experience that gives you the option to download your work in progress if you need a second opinion from a friend.  Overall, I think this is a clean user experience that will draw repeat business.

Check it out for yourself: http://www.shirtsmyway.com

Users are being given more and more control over how they consume content on a website.  Apple’s latest version of the Safari browser, Safari 5, is a great of example of how we’re evolving in this direction. The new reader feature built into Safari, allows the user to consume content in an easy to read format that subdues all the advertising on a website along with all other extraneous elements.  In an attempt to make the web a more readable experience, the Safari reader presents content to the user in a very elegant and simple format. This is clearly part Apple’s well planned strategy with a view to giving users yet another reason to buy an ipad and let go of print products.  If you never download a single app for your ipad, although I can’t imagine why you wouldn’t, you will still get a clean pleasurable experience reading your favourite content on the Safari browser that comes native with the device.

Of course, it goes further than the ipad. Any device that can run windows will also have access to this version of Safari and the new reader feature. It makes me want to read more online and it’s as easy as clicking one button. It just works – no configuration required.

Being a user experience professional in the digital publishing industry, the first alarm that goes off is, “what happens to our ad impressions?” The initial web page still has to load before the reader button is available so the impression should still register. Although animated ads that string through a number of animations or elaborate take-overs may suffer from this new feature. There is some relief for advertisers however; the reader feature is not available on index pages and other lead pages. In the case of an index page, the reader button is replaced by an RSS button. Only once you have selected an article, will you see the reader button.  Perhaps reader will strike a nice balance between the commercial experience and better web design.  Overall, I think its step in the right direction. This new feature underscores the need for UX designers to employ a simple, clean design approach. If we don’t do this, browser developers might do it for us.

Try it out – Download the new Safari Browser