Phaidon Press
Digital Products Designer & Manager
Phaidon is a publisher of books on art, architecture, design, fashion, photography and popular culture, as well as cookbooks, children’s books and travel books.
In 2008 I was recruited by the former Publisher of Wallpaper* magazine, where I was the Online Designer for two years, to join Phaidon Press as a founding member of the Digital Products team. Tasked with designing, developing and monetizing Phaidon’s rich content portfolio, I designed and oversaw the launch of a range of new digital products.
In 2009 we launched Phaidon’s first digital products on the App Store: Ten Wallpaper* City Guides in association with Rolex.
Each Wallpaper* City Guide app was updated several times within the first year of release, with content updates, feature enhancements and bug fixes, totalling over 100 individual version updates across the series.
After a successful launch with positive feedback from the press and users, we expanded the series to 60 cities, designed and developed support for iPad, improved the overall user experience with a visual refresh and a range of new features, and developed a system to enable over-the-air content updates.
Partnering with Microsoft and Nokia, we launched a selection of Wallpaper* City Guide apps for Windows Phone, MeeGo and Symbian.
We also adapted the Wallpaper* City Guide series for the Chinese market, coordinating translations with Marysia Juszczakiewicz.
Wallpaper* City Guides
“App of the week: Be the coolest tourist on the block with these stylish city guides.”
June 2012
“Packed with insider info on the world’s coolest hotels, restaurants, and attractions.”
January 2010
“Smartly organized … Good for business travelers or if the city is just one stop of many.”
January 2010
To coincide with the launch of iPad in April 2010, we partnered with Apple Design Award winners Zolmo, to design and develop Phaidon Design Classics for iPad. The app launched on iPad’s opening weekend in April 2010.
The app featured 1000 of the most important design objects ever made, and the interface leveraged iPad’s accelerometer to provide a 3D browsing experience.
The app has since featured in Apple ads for iPad internationally.
Phaidon Design Classics
“A sleek interpretation of the three-volume printed edition, doing away with the cumbersome carry/display case in the process.”
June 2010
Reporting directly to the CEO, David Davies, and working with Editorial Directors Amanda Renshaw and Emilia Terragni, my role at Phaidon expanded to lead a small team responsible for prototyping, designing and publishing mobile apps and digital books, and the workflows and systems necessary to support them.
Marc Newson: Space Time
In addition to designing and overseeing the development and launch of new digital products, I was also responsible for the design and relaunch of Phaidon’s website.
Phaidon.com was designed around a new editorial strategy, intended to leverage Phaidon’s rich content portfolio to reach new audiences, sell books via an online store, and promote Phaidon’s emerging portfolio of digital products.
Phaidon 55s
With everything we’d learnt from developing products for various platforms, we developed a new Content Management System to streamline previewing and publishing content updates.
We also adapted and built on the Wallpaper* City Guide apps framework to develop a title-agnostic platform for location-based content, including: Phaidon Atlas, a compendium of the most notable architecture around the World; and Where Chefs Eat, a guide to chefs’ favourite restaurants around the World.
Phaidon Atlas
Sorry about the resolution of these images.
After four-and-a-bit years at Phaidon full of new initiatives and product launches, I relocated to Canada to pursue a personal goal. Learn about the role that I found myself in at CBC, here.
Phaidon was successfully acquired in 2012.