Mark Porter

After the recent print relaunch under editor directors Glenn O’Brien and Fabien Baron, Interview magazine got a new website earlier this week.

It’s mainly remarkable for what it’s not. It’s not a flash extravaganza. It’s not even an extra-wide horizontal-scrolling job like the previous version (which I think was done by createthe, but I might be wrong). Its actually very straightforward and well-mannered and reminds me more than anything of the New Yorker site. Its mainly HTML type, although some of the display type is in background image gifs; in some cases this does add a bit of flavour, but a lot of it will be indistinguishable from Georgia to most users, so it seems a bit pointless, and it can feel a bit clunky. Viewing pic galleries or videos involves javascript, but I haven’t found any flash elements. All in all its pretty restrained for a site that grows out of an extremely visual magazine.

There are some nice layout devices, like the grid of pictures at the start of the main article pages, which capture a bit of the spirit of the magazine, and a some parts which feel overdesigned for no good reason. Most of it is nice and simple, but the detail is not quite right here and there which mars the minimalism somewhat.

There looks to be a lot of video and blog content which is unique to the site, and it’s clearly intended as a companion to the magazine rather than an online edition. It does show the problems a strong visual brand has in creating a distinctive look and feel on the web without relying on flash, or an excessive amount of type in images. But on balance it’s a relief to see something from a source like Interview that isn’t trying too hard or using technology in place of content. Its early days so I’m looking forward to seeing how it develops.

(Thanks to Richard Turley for the link)