Context and Challenge

The newspaper risked closing altogether in 2012, though this was averted when, the following year, the "Il Nuovo Manifesto" cooperative took over its publication, paying a monthly lease. At that delicate moment in time, together with my business partner and co-founder of thePrinbtLabs, Stefano Garavelli, we decided to get in touch with the editorial team offering the opportunity of creating a unique digital publishing platform.

Process and Insight

The project started with various meetings with journalists, editors, graphic designers and other key stakeholders involved in the editorial process to understand the newsroom workflow. At the same time, I started a deep analysis of the printed newspaper, its visual identity, typography, graphic motifs and page layouts to identify how to translate them to the new media.

With these fundamental insights, I began working on a prototype for a new kind of native iOS App, based on readability, clean typography, light editions in a minimal native container for the iPad. We released the iOS App at the beginning of 2013, and it has been a massive success in ratings and number of downloads. The project scope quickly evolved and aimed at bringing the newspaper on almost every digital device while publishing from a single content management platform. Shortly after the iOS app, we released a native Android version, a new website for the daily edition, and a bespoke subscription system to manage digital and print subscribers simultaneously.

Besides working on the design and front-end engineering of the native mobile apps, I had the opportunity to design and develop both the front-end and the backend of the new website initially based on WordPress.

We also worked closely to define workflow, features, and strategies behind the subscription system to achieve a complete turnkey platform.

We have been learning from the daily newsroom issues and the insights generated from full access to metrics and business model decisions, thus benefiting the platform's products and quality.

Solution

They have also been among the first newspapers to adopt and deploy agile and modern HTML-based digital editions. Managing the publishing process from within the same platform and reaching out to audiences across a diverse range of devices and reading habits.

il manifesto has a business proposition that is based entirely on paid-for products. They don't add any advertising and rely exclusively on reader purchases for their sustainability. Since the launch in 2013 of the new digital products lineup, this unique approach has paid for itself and resulted in a steady growth of audience and paid subscribers of digital and bundle products.

Outcome

In 2016, the cooperative regained ownership of the newspaper.

In the same year, il manifesto launched Global, featuring translations of il manifesto reportages, original stories, and cross-publishing with selected publishers and news magazines worldwide.

il manifesto global dives deeply into stories too often left untold about what it means to be a world citizen in a system driven by injustice and inequality.

Once again, I had the pleasure and honour to design and develop the platform entirely.