Entertainment Magazine Celebrates 21st Birthday with Brand New Apps

DENVER, CO – BLAG, the cutting-edge entertainment and culture magazine produced in London, is now using the new App Studio^TM to create highly interactive digital apps for the iPad and iPhone. Established in 1992 by twins Sally A. and Sarah J. Edwards, BLAG features exclusive photo shoots and interviews with top musicians and actors from around the world. Ahead of their time in interview style, layout, and content, BLAG’s creators have taken a completely new approach to designing BLAG’s iPhone and iPad apps.

“As designers, creatives, and magazine publishers, we certainly consider print a high value medium,” said Sally A. Edwards, co-founder of BLAG. “But, as we explored the digital format and began designing for the iPad, we realized how truly radical it is as a new way to communicate. It’s more playful. It gives us more room to experiment and to create a connection with our readers.”

Two iPad issues and one iPhone issue of BLAG are available on the iTunes Store now. The apps have been completely redesigned to take advantage of App Studio’s new functionality offered through HTML5, such as searchable text and social sharing.

Sally said, “We set out to offer our digital readers a completely new, different experience than the one they get with our print edition. I wanted them to engage with the content and find something new each time they visit the issue. With App Studio I can use scrolling layouts to make pages look like pop-up books, create customized buttons that lead to more content, add layers to give it an almost three dimensional feel, loads of video, and soften text for a highly-readable experience.”     

BLAG readers will flock to the digital editions for the unique experience and for special content. The second iPad issue, which features Chuck D and ?uestlove interviewing the Sally and Sarah, will showcase video and images that will not be available in any other format. Ninety percent of the video in the second issue is exclusive to the versions for iPad and iPhone, as are the “Bathtime” photos and filmed interview Tom Hardy (The Dark Knight Rises, Lawless, Inception) and Noomi Rapace (The original Girl with the Dragon Tattoo trilogy, Prometheus) conducted in a bubble bath.

“The digital edition of BLAG captures our vision of the magazine as an interactive, engaging showcase of innovative talent and ideas. It is meant to be explored and investigated and revisited again and again. Combined with our print issues, we are able to offer our readers a complete experience.”