Reader’s Digest is an iconic brand with both positive and negative associations. The branded wanted a website redesign that was more modern and elegant, while maintaining a sense of conservatism. The existing site had become outdated both in style and function and we wanted to convey the message that Reader’s Digest is just as relevant and editorially compelling as ever.
The medium here was the web, but when we are thinking about web projects, the key is to look at the many different formats in which the content will be accessed. Not only different devices , but different browsers and operating systems. Web design and functionality cannot be fixed like print, and making a site beautiful and usable as it it squeezed, stretched and shifted is key to the challenge.
The Reader’s Digest audience primarily consists of the over-fifties, but being over fifty today means very different things than it did 20 years ago when the site was first developed. We wanted to reach this “tech-savvy” market while still being comprehensible for all and true to the Reader’s Digest style. We worked with the Reader’s Digest editorial team to make sure that the site structure and topics still felt familiar to the brand’s highly loyal audience, while appealing to a new generation of readers.
The relaunch was heavily marketed through the print magazine, the brand’s social channels and email marketing and through the site directly, with organic and paid-for content marketing.
