The Fader
PLATEFORM
Website, App
ROLE
Art director
TEAM
Personal project
YEAR
2020
An institution in the musical industry, The Fader is considered as the new trends’ bible. Born in New York in 1999, the magazine puts the light on future top artists like Pharrell Williams, Kanye West, Nicki Minaj, and Drake through its iconic covers.
First magazine to feature a full issue on the Itune store, I couldn’t help shake the feeling that the digital experience just didn’t reflect the reputation of the print issue. However, the sustainability of a magazine today relies on its adaptation to digital media. Does it not become necessary for The Fader to rely on its website to develop a cross media brand outside the main magazine core ?
As an absolute fan of The Fader, this observation was an opportunity for me to offer a new approach to user experience and design.
CHALLENGE
Redefining how content can be discovered and consumed on the website to increase engagement and dwell time.
Developing brand elements to create a recognizable and consistent visual language.
Improving the overall experience to align with the brand's reputation and its content.
STRATEGY
The Fader is more than just a magazine. A cornerstone in the music industry, the magazine has always been able to look kindly over artists and culture.
Between these columns, no fake-news or gossip, only exchange and sharing between music enthusiasts. With a seasonal publication rhythm, the editorial staff chose to produce rarer content to maintain its quality standards.
Inspired by this taste for difference and this passion, I put all my effort to bring these values on the screen.
In line with the editorial policy and in opposition with other media’s graphic codes, the number of articles visible on the home page is deliberately reduced. With the editorial board producing less than ten full text articles per day, it would be counterproductive to show more.
I opted for a vertical gallery display of the articles. With photography being a big part of the magazine’s identity, this solution is an elegant way to illustrate the content without betraying the original magazine.
ARTICLE & INTERVIEW
Music-related content is usually displayed in two formats, articles and interviews.
Although they may be similar in content, the artist interviews remain the flagship format of the magazine and must therefore stand out. The interviews generally present themselves as an extensive text accompanied by photos taken especially for the occasion. I arranged the content to allow a parallel between the text and the image, creating a coherent story.
The articles can deal with a variety of subjects illustrated by textual, video or audio content. The challenge here was to create a modular system that fit editors’ needs.
APP
Once the redesigning work of the existing elements was done. I thought about a solution to get readers to visit the site more regularly.
The Fader already offers a mobile application that is just a gateway to the website.
My approach was to put forward an application that brought a real value to the user experience on mobile devices.
From this idea was born Fader News. A feature allowing the user to synchronize his calendar with the application to receive articles before certain scheduled events.
The feature also offers a fast news mode that sorts the latest news out by reading time.
OTHER PRJECT
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