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Guest Blog: How GEO Epoche sets new standards in multichannel publishing

With the help of SPRYLAB’s multichannel publishing platform Purple DS, GEO Epoche has completely redesigned its digital appearance. All in time for the 20th anniversary and the 100th edition. Under the name GEO Epoche+ the history magazine is available as an app and on the web.

About GEO Epoche

GEO Epoche is GEO’s history magazine, published six times a year with a circulation of 120,000. Since 1999 GEO Epoche has been providing lively insights into important historical events. The magazine specialises in groundbreaking research, extraordinary photos and clear illustrations of past living worlds. The digital edition is published every two months.

Purple DS is now not only used to publish magazine content in the app as well as for the first time on the web. But also to further enhance digital content with interactive elements.

Moving from app to multichannel

Before the Purple DS HUB was used, GEO Epoche readers were simply provided with the content of the print magazines in an app. There were no additional formats such as audio. Also the features of the app were very limited. Change was necessary. It quickly became clear that GEO Epoche wanted to offer its own digital readers real added value with a new modern appearance. An added value that goes beyond the boundaries of a printed magazine.

Multichannel publishing with a lot of added value

The more than 2,000 history articles are now organised in a completely new way on the multichannel platform GEO Epoche+. For the first time, all content is article based. In addition, exclusive audio content is also available for the first time. For example, recorded favourite stories of the editorial team, interviews with experts, background reports and podcasts. And a full-text search function that makes it easier for readers to find what they are looking for.

The 5 most important GEO Epoche features are summarised here:

1 New newsstand with progressive loading

Readers can download all issues of GEO Epoche and read them offline. The download can be done either in the app or web newsstand and also in the individual articles themselves.

The so-called progressive loading feature is active as well. This means that users can start reading while content is being downloaded.

Geo Epoche's new newsstand with progressive loading

2 Article-based highlights

GEO Epoche+ provides its readers with curated articles in various categories. For example, readers can view the best articles on China, _Middle Ages_ or Wild West at a glance.

This is the first time that the editorial team has had the opportunity to put particularly good and timeless articles in the spotlight. An added value that is only possible digitally.

Multichannel Publishing with article-based highlights

3 User-friendly UI/UX

The table of contents can be called up with just one click in each article. This means that readers can switch to other articles in the issue at any time. This is a great advantage compared to the standard PDF reading mode.

GEO Epoche has a user-friendly UI/UX

In addition, GEO Epoche was able to significantly increase user-friendliness, not least due to the new user experience. This is also reflected in the numerous 5-star ratings in the App Store.

Numerous 5-star ratings in the App Store made possible by Purple DS

4 Intuitive switching between PDF and article view

Readers can switch between the PDF magazine and the article view optimised for digital reading with a single click. In this way, the elaborately created print magazines are not lost even in the digital edition.

Multichannel Publishing enables intuitive switching between PDF and article view5 Interactive audio content

The editorial team of GEO Epoche uses the new digital possibilities to offer audio formats to its numerous subscribers for the first time. For example, the team produces a new episode every 14 days for the crime podcast Crimes of the Past. In this way, the timeless articles are enriched with exciting digital elements and offer users further real added value.

GEO Epoche's interactive audio content

Central content management in one place

In addition to the completely renewed app we have built a new HTML Storefront. This is characterised by the fact that the kiosk design is completely customisable.

Finally a short remark about the content management of GEO Epoche: the editorial team controls both the app and the website articles via the Purple DS HUB. Only in this way can the team rely on an efficient multichannel workflow and, among other things, ensure that the new audio formats can be inserted without much effort.

Would you like to learn more about the different possibilities of multichannel publishing? Then register for our live webinar on 13 February 2020. Our CEO Stephan Heck will explain how GEO Epoche uses Purple DS in detail and give you exclusive insights in a live demo.

This article was first published on: https://purplepublish.com/en/geo-epoche-multichannel-publishing/

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