It may be challenging to eliminate multitasking from your work routine completely. Understanding how it does more harm than good can help you to plan and build your work system and habits to help reduce the risk of multitasking.

Let’s debunk three common misconceptions of multitasking and how they affect you and your team.

#1 myth: You deliver work faster when you do multiple tasks simultaneously.

On the contrary, multitasking slows you down and further delays your (or your team’s!) other tasks. For example, let’s say you have three tasks or projects to deliver: A, B, and C. Each task or project typically takes one week to complete. Simple planning would look like this, let’s say you commit to these expected end dates.

Now, let’s use a simple example where you switch to another task every time you’re halfway through. It could be because your clients or other leaders in your company are checking or asking for their tasks to be prioritized.

Do you see how both Project A & Project B are now late?

You might think, “At least project C is still on time.” I hate to break it to you, but that’s only in theory.

Multitasking can lead to decreased productivity and quality of work. Studies have shown that when we try to do multiple tasks at once, our brain constantly switches between tasks, leading to a phenomenon known as Context Switching.

This constant switching takes up valuable time and energy and decreases focus and concentration. Especially when switching between two completely different tasks, the longer it will take for you to get into a productive state to work on the next one. This is particularly common among generalists who do all kinds of tasks.

By factoring in the delay from Context Switching, the delay gets longer each time you switch tasks. So now, project C is also got delayed. It means not only you ended up working slower, but none of your tasks were delivered on time.

Now, let’s be realistic; we get interrupted even more often in real-world scenarios. Everybody wants to be prioritized, or something else simply becomes urgent.

Could you imagine how far these projects got delayed if you switch tasks more often and introduce new small tasks* into these?

* Small tasks = the ones that often got underestimated as a 10 mins task that easily got blown into an hour. Sounds familiar?

#2 myth: Your clients or bosses will be happier knowing you prioritize their tasks or projects.

It might be true, but will they still be happy when you’re late completing them?

Starting earlier is not the same as finishing them ahead of schedule.

>> read #1 myth above

A case study done by a large technology company found that employees who were frequently interrupted during the workday had a 66% decrease in productivity and took longer to complete tasks. Additionally, multitasking can lead to increased errors and mistakes, harming a company’s reputation and bottom line.

The same applies to consultants, who juggle multiple clients and projects simultaneously. Multitasking can lead to decreased focus and concentration, resulting in missed deadlines, poor-quality work, and unhappy clients.

#3 myth: Multitasking makes you more productive.

The cost of multitasking is beyond just our work. It can also have adverse effects on our health and well-being. For example, studies have shown that multitasking can lead to increased stress and burnout and negatively affect our memory and cognitive function.

How can you be more productive if you’re stressed out?

Let’s reflect on examples from the 1st & 2nd points above.

1. When you’re late delivering your work, your bosses & clients will be unhappy and put more pressure on you.
2. Under pressure, your work quality could suffer.
3. Externally, how would this affect your credibility?
4. Internally, how would delivering low-quality work & being late make you feel?
5. How would this affect you long-term if you keep multitasking?

Now, let’s switch the role of being a team leader.

1. How often are your team members multitasking?
2. How would this affect you if you kept asking your team to multitask?

How can your team be more productive if you keep stressing them out?

So, what can we do to break free from the multitasking trap?

What can we do to create a working environment that minimizes the temptation of multitasking for everyone?

Any exceptions? When is it okay to multi-task?

Let’s discuss them in another article.

The Real Cost of Multi-Tasking & Context Switching was originally published in Launch Actually on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Layout & design play vital roles in creating a publication. It’s no secret that humans are highly visual creatures. Therefore, you will need to do the best you can to grab readers’ attention while staying true to your brand voice and identity.

If you are thinking about producing a publication, like a magazine, you enter a crowded market. Did you know that even in 2016, there were already over 7000 magazines in circulation in the United States alone?

In order to stand out of the crowd you need to make sure your design is catchy, professional and of the highest possible quality. Thankfully, you can use several tricks to give your magazine an advantageous edge and make it look truly stunning.

Let’s jump in and learn more about those tricks that you can try now.

1) Nail the Cover: Design to Impress

Well, they say, “Don’t judge a book by its cover”.

But hey, when it comes to publications, that’s what people tend to do. So let’s pay extra attention to how to get your cover to shine.

The key to getting your cover noticed is to have a cover that really grabs people’s attention. But grabbing attention doesn’t mean it must be an overcrowded cover packed with content or loud colours. Instead, an understated yet stylish cover can be just as impactful.

Most successful covers follow a similar concept. One main heading and one prominent sub-heading usually focus on a featured story and several smaller sub-headings. This gives your readers an overview of the critical stories and a more in-depth look at what else is in the magazine.

You can peek into our previous article to master the layout & how to make the most out of fonts to attract your targeted readers.

The key here is to keep it low-key yet impactful by choosing the right elements that go well together. Your main goal is to get them to flip beyond the cover and read through the following few first pages, which brings them to the next point.

2) Don’t Ignore the Table of Contents Page.

Once you have your readers flipping that excellent cover you’ve created, be ready to greet them with a convincing table of contents (TOC) page.

While it might seem mundane, it’s probably the most essential page after the cover. This is where your readers learn more about your content and what they can expect to see if they keep reading on.

Sometimes you have a lot of content that you’d need to list on this page. Cramming it all onto one page will make it hard to read. Like other pages in your publication, the golden rule of a great layout is that it needs breathing room. You may spread your contents page out to two or even more pages if you wish.

On prints or PDF versions, most content pages usually follow a fairly standard grid format, but you can get a bit creative with it.

Your TOC page doesn’t have to look stale. For example, emphasizing your featured stories is a great way to give a flavour of your content at a glance.

If your digital publication is already in HTML format, then you have no reason to push all of your content info so close together.

Remember, your readers can always scroll down to view more information. Having said that, keep the most exciting stories and visuals above the fold to maintain your readers’ interest to keep scrolling and reading.

Try not to fill every part of the page for the sake of filling it. Remember that white space can make your design look stylish as well as helps to draw attention to the content you want your readers to be focussing on. On the other hand, too much going on can be pretty off-putting.

3) Be Clever with Colors

Color is a sure-fire way to make your magazine stand out. But you need to use it wisely.

A mix of bright, well-matched colours can really make a page pop. But at the same time, minimal use of perhaps just a single colour can also make your page look incredibly classy.

The last thing you’d want is to have a mess of colour just for the sake of it. Instead, take your time to choose your palette and use colour to enhance the content rather than detract from it.

Using a consistent theme or colour palette can help your readers feel the cohesiveness of your publication and resonate with your brand. Use them to communicate the emotion you want your readers to feel throughout the publication.

4) Communicate Efficiently with Infographics

Text and images are the building blocks of any publication. But combining them in infographics can really bring your publication to the next level.

First, it gives your content some punch. When done correctly, having value-packed info in a beautiful graphic makes it visually pleasing and easier for your readers to absorb the information. Otherwise, imparting complex information could be a text-intensive article -TL;DR, too long don’t read.

Most pages of your publication could either be feature images, blocks of text, or both. A page or double-page spread that breaks up this pattern using an infographic will immediately catch the reader’s eye and, therefore, their attention. Don’t you want that?

5) Grab Their Attention with Pull Quotes

A pull quote is taken directly from the article, usually written in a slightly bigger font than the body text.

Sometimes, it can even be given its own page when the statement is impactful. The design of how you present your pull quotes matters, so it’s definitely worth putting some effort into these.

Just like how the cover gives a glimpse of the magazine, pull quotes can provide a flavour of what is coming in the articles.

By choosing pull quotes that can really connect with your intended target readers, you can then compel them to go into articles they might not otherwise read.

More Great Tips for Stunning Magazine Design

We hope you have found these 5 tips on publication design helpful.

If you would like to learn more, please check out our blog. It’s packed with helpful articles to help you produce the very best magazine, as well as other handy tips and hints for your business.

If you have any questions or want to know more about our services, please don’t hesitate to get in touch or simply drop us a comment below.

Digital Publication Design: 5 Incredible Tips You Can Try Now to Grab Readers’ Attention was originally published in MagLoft — Digital Publishing Platform on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

It might seem daunting to consistently create a digital magazine with excellent design, especially when you’re just starting out. Indeed, a lot of the work goes into creating a digital magazine that looks fantastic. But don’t let it stop you!

One aspect that can quickly elevate your digital magazine design is to nail your magazine layout.

So, let’s look at some basic layout rules that can set your digital magazine apart from other publications.

1) Plan Your Content

First things first, plan out the content of your magazine before you even touch a computer. You can’t adequately plan your layout if you don’t know what you will put inside your magazine.

What content do you want to include in the issue?
How many pages or articles will you have?
Will you have a spread for photography?
Will it be text-heavy content or a balanced mix of media and text?

Remember, with digital magazines, you can include different media types, from audio, video, interactive components and many more. So, there is no excuse to stick with boring static elements like text and still images.

It would be best to answer these questions before designing your magazine. Then, if you have multiple contributors to your publication, work with them to decide on the final version that will go into the latest issue.

It will also help if you make sure that the big idea for your magazine’s content is there. Then, once you know what your magazine will include, you can build your layout to support this.

2) Create Layout & Design Themes

When it comes to a magazine, we’re talking about multiple pages that go together.

Designing each of the pages one by one would be draining on even the most experienced publishers’ time and energy. So instead, create a theme that will help guide your magazine’s overall layout and feel.

Now, it doesn’t mean that you can get away with using the same design on every page. Aim to bring unity and cohesiveness, but it shouldn’t be too uniform or boring to look at. Think about what you want your readers to think, feel, and do as they flip through the next page.

You can create multiple themes that are consistent with your brand vibe.

For example, define a theme for the first featured page and a page for the text pages in between. By doing this, you can also speed up your content creation process. In addition, you can have several different template pages for each type of page, such as Cover, Editorial, TOC, Articles, Videos, Advertisement, and others.

Having a universal theme for your content and pages means that you don’t need to recreate your content layout from scratch for the next issue. This also helps to emphasize your brand identity and makes it easier for readers to recognize your magazine.

3) Content Formatting is Important

One of the essential parts of a digital magazine layout is being mindful of your content formatting. It’s so easy to fall into the trap of cramming too much information onto one page. So now you know, please don’t make it one of your mistakes.

Instead, make sure that your content is aligned correctly.

Use the proper margin and spacing on your layout. This whitespace will make your readers feel good, and you do want them to feel good reading your content.

No one likes to read content that seems too cluttered to be read. When the spacing between your letters is too tight together, it will be hard for your readers to read it.

The perks of creating layouts for digital magazines is that you don’t have to worry about space, as it’s unlimited.

Yes, you read that right.

Unlike print, where you have to be concerned about a fixed dimension and number of pages, embrace the power of the vertical scrolling reader experience that digital publishing solutions can provide.

Pro Tip:

Be mindful of using columns the way you do in print magazines in your digital magazine. Remember, most of your readers will read your content on their mobile devices. Therefore, too many columns on mobile are simply unpleasant and should be avoided at all costs.

If you plan to use multiple columns for devices with a bigger screen like desktops and tablets, ensure that you’re using a responsive layout that will automatically collapse into one column when your content is displayed on mobile phones.

Check out how Cents-Mag does it right.

4) Text Hierarchy

We’ve talked about content formatting above and how we don’t want to cram all your information into one page.

Bottom line — don’t clutter your layout.

Here is another way to give more structure to even the most straightforward design: leverage text hierarchy to tell your story.

You can play around with contrast, try different variations of font weights and sizes, how you position your text and use a balanced font-size ratio between headings and subtext.

5) Embrace the Responsive Design Opportunities Digital Layouts can offer

The best thing about digital magazines is what differentiates them from print; they allow for responsive design.

Responsive design means that your content will adjust according to the device your readers are using. As a result, your content can look and read nicely on any device, size, and orientation. Isn’t that great?

Reading experiences on mobile devices with responsive HTML layouts always win compared to PDF-only magazines, which behave like static images.

It’d be troublesome to squint, pinch and zoom just to read a simple sentence. Unfortunately, even these days, many digital magazines out there still overlook the importance of responsive design and stick to PDF-only publications.

It’s such a missed opportunity not to do responsive design.

The silver lining, though, is that it’s not too late to seize this opportunity other publications (aka your competitors) are missing. So let’s correct that by future-proofing your digital publication layout by embracing responsive design and staying ahead of the game.

Check out the video above, for example. You can see how different it would be when readers view the PDF content versus responsive.

Imagine your digital publication being that responsive!

But, what if I told you that your readers can enjoy best of both worlds, switching easily between PDF and responsive HTML view?

Take this Universal App for a test drive over the next 14 days at a $0 cost to you — you can thank me later.

Create Your Digital Magazine With the Universal App

Now, you’re ready to create a truly responsive digital magazine fit for the awesome content in your publication. I’m so looking forward to seeing your results!

Feel free to drop the URL to your digital publication in the comment below.

A Starters Guide on How to Build Your First Magazine Layout was originally published in MagLoft — Digital Publishing Platform on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Fonts can help communicate vibes of what brand image you want for your digital publication. For example, is your publication portraying chic or sporty style? Or is it supposed to be elegant? Creative? Bold?

And vice-versa, when the wrong font is used, your content (and overall publication) can feel off or come across as unreliable, dull, or simply too much.

Every font has a unique personality and can trigger different moods. Therefore, when choosing which fonts to use, it’s essential to understand your intended tone of communication and the suitable fonts that best convey that message.

At a minimum, you need to be aware of three main font types: Serif fonts, Sans-serif fonts, and other fonts that are most likely grouped under Display fonts.

Then, you need to understand how to differentiate them to understand their personalities better.

1) Serif fonts

For a long time, I had been using Times New Romans as my go-to font for having a formal vibe when writing, without realizing that it’s part of the serif font family.

Nowadays, many more Serif fonts are available; each has its own unique characteristics. But there’s one key characteristic that makes a Serif font, well, a Serif font.

It’s the hat or the boots!

Serif fonts portray tradition, sophistication and a formal tone.

However, not all Serif fonts are created equal. For example, let’s compare a classic and a modern Serif. I’ll pick Google Fonts when giving examples throughout this article, so you can quickly check out how they look.

Serif fonts are often used in business, finance, high fashion, and elegant lifestyle publications. Especially when combined with the right colours, it can emphasize the overall ambience you’re going after.

For example, look at the Serif fonts in action on the cover of popular magazines, such as Forbes, Vogue, and Kinfolk below. These publications all use Serif fonts on their cover page, yet each achieves a different vibe.

Another particular type of Serif is the Slab serif. It’s bold and contemporary.

Below are some examples that reflect this category which you can compare to the example of Serif fonts above.

How would you describe them in your own definition?

Which one is your favourite Serif font?

2) Sans-serif fonts

Sans comes from the French language and means “without”.

So, Sans-serif to types, well, without the serif, fonts without the extending `hats and boots` features at the end of their strokes. Sans-serif fonts are modern, humanist, and neutral, often portraying simplicity, modernism, or minimalism.

Concerning digital publications, a Sans-serif type would be a safe choice for the body text, as it would have better readability on both computer screens and mobile devices.

Serif fonts, while elegant, may not be adequately displayed on some screens and are known to disappear or appear too large on lower-resolution displays.

Generally, combining Serif fonts for headings with Sans-serif for paragraphs is a recipe for success. Although, that doesn’t mean that you can’t switch them around! Like Lora, some Serif fonts can look great in the body text.

So get inspired to create great font pairings, even with free fonts from Google fonts.

Of course, you can also pair fonts from the same type, for example, two sans-serif fonts from different font families.

Pro Tip: This can emphasize a clean and modern vibe.

Be mindful not to choose fonts that look too similar, but opt for totally different font families. Otherwise, it could look off and be perceived as if you assigned the wrong font by accident.

3) Other fonts: Monospace, Handwriting, Display

Now, let’s have fun and talk about some stylish fonts.

Let’s use different style groups by Google Fonts to start with. There are Monospace, Handwriting, and Display fonts.

In monospace font families, each letter and character in the font occupy the same amount of horizontal space, a.k.a the width. That’s why they are sometimes called fixed-width fonts and were “widely” used in early computers and typewriters that often had minimal graphical capabilities.

Monospaced fonts usually remind us of old-school textbooks and computer programming. However, they can also be a perfect choice if you’re going after that sparse, minimal, and undesigned look and feel.

Check out the ten most popular monospace fonts to see if they’re right for you.

Handwriting fonts are usually used to give an approachable and informal feel. They are often used as display or decorative text instead of a long-form article with title & paragraph text. Some of the handwriting fonts are actual hand-drawn lettering vectorized into letterform sets.

In Google Fonts, Scripts are also grouped under handwriting fonts. Although, they usually look a lot more polished and digitized than those that are hand-drawn.

Script fonts are elegant, classic, stylish and formal, which are pretty different to the effect induced by `hand-drawn` handwriting fonts I referred to before. Let’s compare these two, for example.

Using Handwriting or Script fonts for body text may not be wise because it could be challenging for your readers to read them in smaller font sizes, especially if they’re using a lower resolution display. Instead, use them sparsely as attention grabbers. They can also look nice for quotes in both print-only and digital publications.

The last group, Display fonts, triggers a broader range of emotion, depending on the font you choose. They are grouped under Display fonts because they are mainly used as decorative fonts and are rarely used as body text or even headings.

On the other hand, I love to use display fonts when creating graphics to deliver a message quickly. Just be mindful of using fonts that go well with the vibe you’re going after.

I mean, how do you feel about each of these fonts?

How to Choose Fonts that Attract Your Targeted Readers was originally published in MagLoft — Digital Publishing Platform on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

The yays and the nays

Now that you have attracted people to read your content and create an account on your publication, how do you keep them engaged, so they come back for more?

Nobody likes receiving spammy emails or notifications. But some informative messages are tolerable and even welcomed when done right. Keep in mind that readers like to be in control of what they want or don’t want to receive.

We did a couple of interviews with readers about their most and least favourite ways of being reached out by publications they are subscribed to.

Monthly Newsletter

Depending on the frequency and type of content, your readers may subscribe to a newsletter. We recommend a monthly newsletter over a daily option to avoid cluttering up your readers’ inbox.

I personally like the short monthly recap style newsletters. They feel like they respect my time and if there are any stories that I want to read in more detail there are always links I can click on. — Nick Martin

I rarely check my email. So, I think it is better to use app notifications, but make sure don’t send too often. — Julieca

I rarely read the few monthly newsletters or weekly digests I am subscribed. I usually search on demand for whatever I am interested in. — Dan Malone

Weekly digest via email

This is my favourite way to keep up with most publications. The frequency is just enough for readers to stay up to date, without disrupting their daily activities. Often, the weekly digest curates trending articles of the week, and it’s relatively easy to read.

Toby and Rafael agree with me.

I like receiving weekly digest via Email, mainly for media, news, and podcasts. — Tobias Strebitzer

I check out the weekly digest via email. It usually has a short article and a CTA to read more. Often, it also comes with an action to subscribe and a special price. — Rafael Kawatu

In-app notifications

As the name implies, in-app notifications are messages that appear within the app and only while users have it open. It could be a message displayed when logged-in users are browsing your publication. Or, it could be aggregated info listed in the bell icon in the top right corner of the app.

Subtle in-app notifications are preferable, as it doesn’t disrupt the reading experience. As long as readers can control what type of activities are going to be delivered, they usually don’t mind receiving an in-app notification. It usually comes in handy, especially when readers are expecting engagements or replies to their comments.

Many readers seem to like in-app notifications and even couldn’t stop themselves from checking them out.

Badges on apps I usually check because I can’t stand having tons of unread badges. Also, in-app notifications are OK since I’m already on the app anyway. — Firza Raditha

I have do not want those red circle badges on the app drawer so I always open them up regardless of what app they are. In-app-notifications are less annoying for me. If you’re already choosing to use the app , you would think that their notifications won’t be quite bothersome, right? — Davinci Solidario

If reader actively using the app, reader will more easily access information via in-app notification. — Febby Rahmat

Push Notifications: Would readers like to stay updated each time a new article is published?

If you publish time-sensitive content, such as breaking news, giving readers an option to enable push notifications is a good idea. However, be wise in using this for content types that don’t require immediate attention. With a few missteps, a push notification can transform from invitation to intrusion.

Hear how readers feel about receiving Push Notifications.

Love-hate relationship with push notifications because some app tends to send them every day and it becomes annoying. But appreciate it when they send it once a week or every other day just so I won’t completely forget about them and miss out on good deals. In-app notifications are good only if I open the app often. Otherwise, I tend to forgot I installed the app. So, I found this part where push notification is winning. — Natasha Kumala Dewi

I’m on the fence when it comes to push notifications. I have shopping apps that annoy the hell out of me with their push notifications. But for the life of me, I haven’t turned them off yet! — Davinci Solidario

These mixed feelings are also shared by Shulha.

That’s depend on how much I am interested in that publication. Normally, I just want to get summary and see whether there is interesting topic via email, and turn-off the notifications. However, if it’s an interesting publication, then I will hope to get update as soon as possible via Push Notifications. — Shulha Yahya

What about you?

Which type of communication do you prefer to receive from a Publication?

Do readers want to hear from you? The yays and the nays was originally published in MagLoft — Digital Publishing Platform on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Great content alone can’t make up for a poor reading experience.

Nowadays, it’s easier than ever to create a digital publication. It seems that everyone can be a publisher.

While it’s easy to get your initial set of content published, make sure not to skip the due diligence of fact-checking your sources.

How do readers judge credible content?

Good writing with high-quality graphics and the use of outbound hyperlinks to credible sources can help improve content credibility. Links to other sites on relevant points show that you’ve done your research and provide genuine value for your audience.

Avoid boastful subjective claims, which readers can clearly see as exaggerating. Credibility suffers when content is made up of dubious words.

Most of the time, readers aren’t consciously paying attention to how well an article reads until it bothers them. So keeping things simple and intuitive could give them a breezy time enjoying your publication. The gist is: Don’t overthink it.

Yet, it’s still common to see the following pitfalls, even in 2022.

Interactive Elements: how much is too much?

Subtle interactive components are cool. Intrusive elements are nasty.

Infamous auto-scroll carousels and intrusive pop-ups are still heavily utilized, and the digital publishing industry is no exception. Unfortunately, most publishers have yet to realize that these types of elements can cause more harm than good to their readers.

When people decide to continue reading your content, they want to enjoy their time on your page.

Distracting elements on auto-movement could catch them off-guard and could take their focus away from your content and from finding what they’re looking for.

What can you do instead?

If you’d like to lead them to take a particular action after reading your content, you can place subtle yet clear call-to-actions (CTAs).

For example, if you want them to subscribe to your newsletter or purchase a paid subscription, you may want to place a form at the end of your article.

If you insist on displaying pop-ups, make sure to time them well. For example, only show them when readers are trying to leave your publication or after they’ve spent a good amount of time.

PDF is inconvenient for humans to read

Research spanning 20 years by NNGroup, one of the world leaders in research-based user experience, proves PDFs are problematic for online reading.

Yet many in the digital publishing industry are still using PDF for their digital publication, even though users continue to get lost in them.

Publishers may feel that they have more control over the layout and appearance with PDF Pixel Perfect design. Instead, they risk losing their readers. PDFs are unpleasant to read and navigate and remain unfit for digital content display, especially when accessed from mobile phones.

What can you do instead?

If you’re currently publishing your content solely as PDF, there are low-cost solutions that can help you bridge the gap. Take the PDF toggle view feature from the Universal App. Your readers can choose to either enjoy your content in PDF format or in responsive HTML design, which is easy for them to read.

What’s next?

In the previous article, we talked about understanding your readers’ expectations. This article covers the strategy to create content to provide an excellent reading experience, by leveraging the technology we have today.

Now that you have attracted people to read your content and create an account on your publication, how do you keep them engaged, so they come back for more?

Check out our recommendations in the full article I wrote for Magloft Digital Publishing Platform here.

Ready to put your content creation skills into practice?

Give it a whirl on Universal App’s 14-day free trial or schedule your one-to-one demo with our consultant here

Importance of a good reading experience was originally published in MagLoft — Digital Publishing Platform on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Yes, magazines are meant to be read, but they’re also a visual experience.

People often don’t appreciate all the work that goes into creating a digital magazine that looks fantastic, but they’ll definitely notice if it’s not been done properly.

Would you want to risk losing your readers simply because your design doesn’t look appealing? Probably not

So, what are the basic rules of what NOT to do when designing your digital magazine?

1) Don’t use too many fonts

We all constantly interact with typefaces daily. But did you know that fonts affect what we read and influence the choices we make? It’s scientifically proven, too.

Fonts can help communicate what your brand image is.

For example, is your magazine portraying stylish, chic vibes? Or is it supposed to be elegant? Creative? Bold?

It goes both ways, too. When the wrong font is used, your content, and overall magazine look and feel, can come across as unreliable, dull, or simply too much.

For example, too many fonts will confuse and overwhelm your audience, especially when these fonts are on the same page or within one article. You may differentiate the fonts you use for headings and body text or if you need to add some extra decorative fonts. But, if you try to add too many different fonts, it’ll make your magazine look chaotic and unprofessional.

Ideally, you don’t need to use more than 2–3 font types.

So, please remember not to go overboard when choosing fonts for your content.

2) Don’t use low-quality images

You’ve heard the cliché:

“A picture is worth a thousand words”,

and it’s a cliche for a reason.

Your magazine isn’t finished without adding media. Adding pictures within your magazine articles adds impact and helps deliver the message you want.

So when you’re using low-quality images, imagine what message you’re sending to your readers?

You want to make sure that your pictures are of high quality while ensuring that the images added throughout your content are sharp, focused, and relevant to your content. However, this doesn’t mean you need to upload a 50 MB-sized picture to your digital magazine!

Doing so will simply make the size of your digital magazine much bigger, which means slower download and loading times for your readers. It’d also take up more storage on your reader’s device.

Images around 72–110 DPI should be good enough for digital devices or you can also use tools such as TinyPNG to help compress the size of your images while maintaining their quality.

3) Don’t ignore whitespace

One of the essential aspects that makes up an enjoyable reading experience of a digital magazine is the layout. Sometimes, we get too caught up in trying to cram as much information as possible onto one page, and then the whole design ends up looking too crowded.

Make sure that your content is aligned correctly, and use adequate margin and spacing.

Proper spacing makes your readers feel good.

Don’t you want your readers to feel good when reading your content?

No one likes to read content with extremely tight spacing. When letters are too close together, it is hard for people to identify the shapes that make up different letterforms.

Here’s the good news. The thing about layouts on digital magazines is that you don’t have to worry about space, as it’s unlimited.

Yes, you read that right!

Digital magazines have a vertical (and sometimes horizontal) scroll. So, you don’t need to cram every possible piece of information into a fixed dimension, as you would with print.

PRO TIP

Be careful with columns.

Ensure that your content has no more than two columns on screens with smaller viewing widths, like mobile.

Too many columns won’t look good on smaller devices, which is how the majority of your readers will read your content on their mobile.

Check out how Cents-Mag does it right.

4) Don’t make your readers pinch & zoom to access your content

Okay, I might be biased here.

I’m not a fan of squinting and pinching on the PDF.

But let’s get real, imagine how troublesome it is to pinch in and out on every single page of your magazine just so that they can read the text on your PDF magazine.

Do you really want to let your beloved readers go through all that?

I didn’t think so.

The best thing about digital magazines, especially when compared to print, is that they allow responsive designs. Responsive design means giving your readers a better reading experience.

Instead of having a static page, as you would with a print PDF, your digital magazine content will adjust accordingly to the device of your readers to provide an awesome reading experience every time.

No more pinch to zoom just so readers can read one simple sentence!

Responsive design is often overlooked when publishers create content, probably because people are so used to designing for print. So, if you still have a non-responsive digital magazine, you’re missing an opportunity to bring your publication to the next level.

Check out this video, for example.

You could see how different it would be when readers view the PDF content versus responsive content. If you can optimize your content, why not do it? The little things separate an average magazine from a great one.

5) Don’t overdo fancy effects

With the technology available today, especially for digital content creation, there are many ways to implement various widgets and add effects to your content.

Please don’t go overboard with this, as it is that easy to do so.

Too many moving effects on your digital magazine can quickly make your readers feel overwhelmed and distracted. As a result, they most likely will leave your publication before they even finish reading the content, and that’s because it would be too much for them to handle.

For example, adding a simple parallax effect to your content goes a long way. It has a very subtle effect, yet it gives a more elevated experience to your readers when they scroll through your pages.

You don’t need super grand and elaborated special effects to WOW your readers; just a couple of subtle dynamics on the page should do the trick.

If you want to be flashy, stay classy.

Create Your Digital Magazine Layout With MagLoft

Ready to put your digital magazine design skills into practice?

Give it a whirl on Universal App’s 14-day free trial.

You can start from scratch or simply upload your existing PDF issue and convert it to HTML with its built-in converter. Designing your digital magazine page with the Universal App’s drag-and-drop page editor, Typeloft, is easy; no coding experience is required.

Or why not get the best of both worlds, where your readers can choose whether they want to read your content in responsive HTML issue or as a PDF view. This way they still can get the look and feel of traditional magazines, while having a great reading experience.

You’ll get a complimentary $10 Conversion Credit during your trial to enable this feature.

Curious to see what it looks like?

Schedule your one-to-one demo with our consultant here.

5 DON’Ts to Avoid If You Want to Keep Your Digital Magazine Readers was originally published in MagLoft — Digital Publishing Platform on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Readers can only afford so much time on reading. With a sea of information out there, you need to demonstrate quickly what makes your content worth their time.

When it comes to digital content, people don’t read. They scan.

A recent study found that the average human attention span has fallen from 12 seconds in 2000 to 8 seconds today, shorter than a goldfish’s.

This highlights the importance of offering content with an incredibly fast loading time. Imagine if your web page takes 5 seconds to load; you’ll be lucky if they hang around for it to fully load, and if they do, it better have been worth the wait.

It’s essential to hold your readers’ attention early, so they’d decide to continue reading your content.

Important information up-front: Deliver your value fast

Front-loading the structure of our content allows people to quickly understand when they’re scanning.

Web users are busy: they want to get the straight facts.

For example, the writing style inverted pyramid, which starts with the conclusion, respects readers’ time.

On a web page, place your most important message above the fold, which is the first thing readers see without scrolling. Get their interest, then let them decide for themselves whether they want to keep reading or not.

Clutter-free Layout: First impression matters

Humans are visual creatures.

Even before we consume content, we would first recognize elements on the screen and how they come together.

Intentional design with plenty of white space is more likely to provide clarity to your readers at first glance. Thus, more pleasant user experience, compared to an overcrowded, cluttered layout, like this quintessential example:

How does the homepage layout above make you feel?

Now, let’s compare it to the homepage below:

Do you notice a difference?

No overwhelming information, please: Break up your content

This helps readers scan to quickly find what they’re most interested in.

• Use clear and fluff-free headings & subheadings
  People detest sales-y content. Clear and concise language helps reduce the mental energy required to quickly understand your content and the value it offers.
• Format your most important information into bulleted lists and bold text
  Incorporating this style into your content allows the eye to focus on the most important information.
• Combine different types of text, images, and media
  Text-heavy content could look dull, unbalanced and tiring to read on the web page. Combining it with appealing images and other interactive media could help convey your content visually in a more engaging way, even in short-form writing.
  While helpful, combine different media types wisely and in moderation. You don’t want to go overboard. For example, having too many different elements on one page may distract your readers rather than draw them in.

Technology is constantly changing, as well as human behaviour when it comes to consuming content.

So, what do your readers expect from your digital publication and what can you do about it?

Understanding what your target audiences are looking for is the first step to help you appeal to your potential readers. We want them to choose your publication over the other billion resources out there.

Now, we’ve covered their reading habits above, check out the full article I wrote for Magloft Digital Publishing Platform here. Let’s leverage those to create a great reading experience, and how to keep your readers engaged, so they come back to your publication for more.

Ready to put your content creation skills into practice?

Give it a whirl on Universal App’s 14-day free trial or schedule your one-to-one demo with our consultant here

How do people read in 2022? was originally published in MagLoft — Digital Publishing Platform on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

The internet has changed the way we interact with magazines. As a result, it could be very challenging for a publication to stick with a print-only approach.

Considering the usage of smartphones for news worldwide grew the fastest in 2021 (73%), can your publication really afford to lose readership if you don’t embrace the power of digital distribution? Or perhaps, a better question would be, why would you want to risk it?

These days, it’s no longer enough to wait for your audience to come to you. Instead, you’ll have to find them. The good news is you can save money by embracing a digital publication. You could also consider going digital-only and re-allocating your print budget to expand your publication reach by leveraging technology and better understanding your target audience.

Read on if you’re looking to launch (or relaunch) a digital publication. Learn some tips and tricks on how to achieve this in simple and cost-effective ways.

1) Get to Know Your Intended Readers

Just like any business, before you even start, you’d like to know what the potential market looks like. Then, combining this information with your passion and expertise, you can create an ideal targeted model reader.

Sit down and come up with your publication’s perfect reader. What are their socioeconomic factor traits, like income, background, education level, relationship status, and so on?

Then, once you’ve established your target audience, ask yourself: are you doing everything you can to reach this person? Does your publication currently reflect this person’s interests and needs?

Suppose you have an existing publication, and you find out that you can’t give a positive answer to those questions yet. In that case, it may be necessary to re-assess and refocus your current publication.

For every problem, there’s always an opportunity.

2) Be Clear on Your Niche

There are thousands of publications out there. So if I was your reader, could you tell me:

What makes your publication different from the rest?

If you can’t answer which niche your publication serves, you might be risking your readership because of a lack of focus. So let’s help them to get clarity on why your publication is precisely what they’re looking for (or even better, is what they need!).

The internet is a mixed blessing — it both makes everything easier and harder at the same time.

Yes, it’s easier now than ever to create and publish your own digital publication. It also offers ease of access to anyone who wants to post their content. As a result, there’s a lot more content in an increasing variety of qualities. However, readers also only have so much time in their day!

By focusing your effort to target a specific niche, you’re going to make it easier for your readers to find and trust you. Knowing your niche will also help in focusing your marketing effort & sales strategy to direct the right kind of traffic, your targeted audience, to your publication.

For instance, say you’re creating a digital magazine about technology. Great! But there’s plenty of print and digital sources for your reader to find content. So what makes your tech magazine different?

When we’re talking about niching down, a common misconception is that it’s only about differentiating topics covered. But, sometimes, a niche can come from the way specific issues are covered, including how you communicate and make your readers feel.

A tech magazine filled with nothing but reviews on video games for teenagers, for instance, is more targeted than a magazine that covers all things tech. So don’t be afraid to be creative and decisive when tackling topics.

If you think that your current publication consists of several different niches, you could also start evaluating whether they deserve their own vertical or not. Then, you can relaunch and offer them as separate digital publications.

For example, if your current magazine covers all about interior design. In that case, you could relaunch them for two different segments: interior for apartments targeting younger generations who live in the city and interior design for families with 3-bedrooms houses in the suburbs.

3) Plan Your Publication Schedule

You’ll also want to plan how often you publish your digital content based on your targeted audience. Evaluate if it’s too frequent, not frequent enough, or maybe it’s just right for your audience’s taste.

Publishing your content too often risks your content being considered spammy after a while. Not to mention, you’d be wasting your time & resources to produce and publish the content that people won’t read.

On the other hand, if you wait too long between publishing dates, your audience may forget about your publication altogether.

“Out of sight, out of mind”

That’s what they say.

So, it’s essential to find the right balance for your audience and your content.

Many popular magazines like complex rock publication Revolver and teen lifestyle publication Teen Vogue have switched to a more relaxed publishing schedule.

4) Write for Digital Readers

Most likely, digital and print publications are written in two dramatically different styles.

For example, Print publications tend to go for more third-person, academic articles with quotes and plenty of text. On the other hand, the writing style in digital publications may be less formal and feature shorter content pieces with embedded multimedia.

Have your intended readers in mind when you’re creating content. Don’t be afraid to simplify your writing or combine it with other media types to make your content interactive and more easily consumed through digital displays.

5) Market and Advertise Your Digital Publication

While publishing your magazine is essential, make sure you also market your publication. Even if you don’t have a big budget for marketing, there are plenty of platforms that can help you tell the world about your publication, be it a free or low-cost solution.

Take social media, for example. You can either go for an organic approach with content marketing or paid ads, like Facebook Ads.

Typically, with digital marketing, you can set various marketing budgets. Your advertisements can also go to a more specific audience group, making it more likely for your intended readers to be the ones who discover your publication and get acquainted with your brand.

6) Evaluate The Format of Your Publication: Print, PDF, Responsive HTML or a mix

There are many ways you can publish your digital publication. If you have ever posted content on a digital platform, you know how easy getting your content into the digital format is. However, not all digital publications are created equal.

Let’s compare PDF-only magazine and the one published using a Responsive HTML. The first one is limited to static content and will require your readers to squint (think pinch and zoom) to read your content on their mobile devices. On the other hand, responsive HTML offers interactive multimedia options and auto-adjusts its size and layout to your reader’s device.

So which one will give your readers a more enjoyable reading experience?

It’s also not that hard to create a responsive HTML publication. Ideally, you want to choose a platform that offers an easy-to-use drag and drop content editor that will save you a lot of time and money.

You shouldn’t need to spend hours formatting your content. That’s valuable time that you could’ve spent increasing the readership of your publication through new content or selling to advertisers. Make content that looks great for your audience and professional to advertisers.

Publications published in responsive HTML format are not only sexy but also smart. It gives your content a good chance to be discovered by search engines like Google or Bing and get it ranked on their search results — at zero cost.

However, if you’re still deciding to stick with a PDF-only publication, I’d be curious to hear your reasons. So please drop your hesitations in the comments section below.

7) Let MagLoft Help You Launch (or Relaunch) Your Digital Publication

We care about publishers’ desire for an easy-to-use digital publishing and content marketing platform. We also care that your readers get the best experience they can when they read your digital publication. This is why we’ve created the Universal App, a low-cost, all-in-one platform for Digital Publishing & Content Marketing that grows with you.

Feel free to take it for a test drive with our free, 14-day trial, no strings attached.

In the meantime, you can also claim access to our complimentary 9-step Digital Publishing Blueprint to help you launch and monetize a successful Digital Publication that you can apply whether you’re using our solution or not.

We hope to see your publication soon!

How-To Guide for Launching (or Relaunching) Your Digital Publication! was originally published in MagLoft — Digital Publishing Platform on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

I work for MagLoft and have been heavily involved with creating the Universal App Solution in my role as Product Manager. So it should be no surprise to learn that I strongly believe in the product we’re co-creating with our publishers and the exciting roadmap for upcoming new features and improvements.

Enough about me. Now, let’s explore how we can help you launch your digital publication with the Universal App (which we nicknamed `UA`) within 8 hours, using your own brand, content and audience.

I’ll go through the points that we’ve run through in previous articles, where the Universal App can support those goals, and where we can’t yet.

1) Get to know your readers

Knowing your readers is essential to growing the readership of your digital publication, and it’s not a one-off task. You need to keep monitoring the movements of your traffic, what your readers are responding to and what they are not interested in. It’s an iterative process that enables you to adjust your strategy accordingly, be it for your content, marketing, advertising, or monetization strategy.

Having Google Analytics connected to your digital publication is critical in getting this information. When you publish your digital publication with the Universal App, we automatically track your publication performance down to each article within every issue. We present these critical metrics for your digital publication on your UA admin dashboard, which you can easily access and refresh.

You’ll get data visualization of traffic to your publication, average time spent on your publications issues or articles, bounce rate, sales, monthly recurring revenue and so on.

Interested in digging deeper into the analytics?

In that case, you will want to connect your own Google Analytics 3 or 4 Measurement/Tracking ID and Facebook Pixel ID tracker to the Universal App. This means any event that occurs within your Universal App will be sent directly to your Google Analytics & Facebook Pixel ID, where you can customize the reports & goals according to your needs.

2) Publish valuable SEO-optimized digital magazine content for your audience to discover and enjoy!

Sounds too good to be true?

Here’s the thing: it’s good, and it’s true.

We understand the importance of SEO, and we want you to get the most out of your content. Therefore, when you publish your content on the Universal App, it will be in HTML format that the search engine can read. Now, what if you only have a PDF or even a print-only version of your publication? Good question, read on.

This is why we have a built-in feature where you can simply upload your PDF into the UA, let our app convert it for you within 2–8 hours, and then voila — your PDF content will be transformed into HTML, along with all of your images & assets that exist in your PDF.

If you have more than one article in your PDF, each article on the PDF will be matched one-to-one to the HTML version. While reading any of the articles, your readers can easily switch between its PDF and HTML versions. At the end of this article, I’ll show you how you can do this with the UA.

Hang on, did I mention that you can also upload your print-only magazines?

Don’t panic; we got you covered!

Yes, you can scan any of your back-issue print magazines as a PDF and upload them into the same PDF converter. Just make sure that the scanned quality is good and meets requirements to ensure a smooth conversion process.

3) Create a stunning design for your Digital Magazine

For me, being able to enjoy excellent design is a treat. Also, as an avid reader, seeing a well-thought-out design combined with content I love is honestly something hard to resist. So, if you want to pamper your readers with an enjoyable reading experience, make sure to give each part of your publication a divine touch of inspirational layout and design.

With UA, once your content is transformed into HTML, you can either publish it right away or continue to design them with our easy-to-use, drag-and-drop content editor called Typeloft.

With Typeloft, you can also preview how it’s going to appear exactly on mobile, tablet, or desktop devices — in both portrait or landscape mode. Of course, you’d want to make sure they appear the way you want them to on any device and be consistent with the branding of your publication. And yes, Typeloft is included in your UA subscription, so go take advantage of it.

Now, what if you don’t have time to do this and still want to have awesome-looking content? I mean, who doesn’t love great design, right? This is why MagLoft’s talented designers have been helping publishers design their digital content for years, and we’re extending their service to help you if you need their support.

4) Monetizing your content

I’ve previously written 5 ways to make money from your digital publication. The UA can easily support you to implement 4 of them by selling subscription-based access, single-issue purchases, advertising, and sponsored content. If you’re looking for additional help with any of those four, check out our 9-step Digital Publishing Blueprint, where we write deeper about various strategies to monetize your content.

Improvements are constantly rolling out on Universal App to ensure it can also support you using the `sell in packages` strategy. For example, upcoming improvements include sending subscription coupons and offering combined (or separated) subscriptions to the print+digital version of the publication.

And yes, for sure, we’re going to share it with our Digital Blueprint members list upon release.

5) Build up your email list

There are many reasons why email marketing is still being used by both small and big companies, including in the publishing industry. With the Universal App, you can set up various Call-to-Actions (CTA) to invite your visitors to opt-in to your digital publication and convert them into leads.

One of the options is to set up value-packed free articles or collections and add your opt-in form for them to subscribe, or give registered readers only special access to the limited or special issues.

If you have an existing reader list, you can easily import them into the UA and arrange special free subscriptions for them if you wish to. Vice versa, you will also be able to get your readers’ email lists exported into a spreadsheet where you can manage them offline or import them to your email marketing platform.

6) Your readers can access your content via website browser AND as an app

The Universal App is powered by Progressive Web App (PWA) technology that empowers your readers to easily access your digital content online from any of their devices via web browsers. ALSO, your UA can be downloaded as an app to any of their devices. This means they can also get an app-like reading experience, with speedy loading times and more viewing space.

This is all possible without you having to deal with restrictions and the approval process from the App Store or Google Play. You can finally own all your subscribers’ information to build your email list, and you don’t have to worry about setting aside commissions for these app stores. Apart from a very low fee for using Stripe integration, you’ll get to benefit from all the sales you’ve made, all while making your content SEO-friendly, unlike content within Native Apps.

7) Best of both worlds: Responsive HTML & PDF toggle view enabled

Providing a great reading experience to your readers is a mission that we are passionate about helping publishers with. It’s been almost a year since we launched the UA that offers engaging, responsive content. Unfortunately, many publishers still hesitate to move on from their PDF publication and transition entirely to HTML content, regardless of the benefits.

Our COO, Dan Malone, shared his insights from countless conversations he had with publishers on why do so many publishers continue to simply upload a PDF online and how MagLoft is bridging the gap between print and digital in 2022.

We’ve welcomed this challenge and answered the need with the PDF toggle view feature. By converting PDF to responsive HTML using the Universal App, we can display your issues in both formats. A static PDF view behaves like an image that retains your layout & brand. When your reader wants to read the text on the PDF, they can simply tap on it and it will switch to its responsive HTML view for better interactivity and reading experience, especially on mobile devices.

So, should you start or move your digital publication to the Universal App?

Only you would know.

I’d like to invite you to try the UA for free for 14 days, with no strings attached and no credit card required.

Of course, if you think it’s not for you, your trial period will simply expire — and we won’t charge you anything. However, if you like it (and I am quietly confident you will), we’d be delighted to support you, alongside 100+ other publishers, on your digital publishing journey.

If you’re like me and would like to know who you will work with and the people you can approach when you need help on your publication, feel free to give me a shout or schedule a one-on-one virtual coffee with either our COO or CEO.

See you around!

Why MagLoft’s Universal App is A Great Way to Start Your Online Magazine was originally published in MagLoft — Digital Publishing Platform on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.