Imagine a world where a magazine you carry to work could offer more than just a light read on a train journey. What if it could show you the making of a cover shoot or the recipes behind the delicious food that adorn its pages or even tell you exactly how to make it?
Chennai-based Notch , an international magazine from Pradeep Dadha Group of Companies, is exactly that kind of monthly, except you won’t be flipping through its pages but swiping past them. Or you could stop to tap and get a sneak peek of its other pages and even feel some of its pages come alive. An online magazine that is available on a digital newsstand, it has all those little animations that make you feel like a child again.
Launched last month, this interactive magazine is available on all handheld platforms — Android, Apple and Kindle, amongst others. “When we decided to launch a magazine, we realised printing was the most expensive aspect of the whole process. If you take that out, it would work well,” says Pradeep Dadha, chairman, Notch Media. “Also, the Internet is the future.”
While Notch targets the NRI segment, its content has a wider appeal. “There are 58 million people worldwide looking for lifestyle-related content online. There are the usual international magazines, but they aren’t curated,” says Pradeep, while Hema Sethuraman, director and publisher, adds, “We’re trying to create a good experience for the readers. This magazine isn’t about just cinema or fashion, but also about food, travel, art, wellness, interiors and so on.”
Notch can also be downloaded on a PC or Laptop as a PDF file. “Of course, then the additional elements such as embedded videos and animation won’t work,” says Pradeep. “Even on a tablet, you don’t need to be connected to the Internet to view it. Once you download Notch, it stays with you, just like a regular magazine.”
The magazine’s core team has worked on making it visually attractive. “If you give a person an article or three brilliant pictures, they’ll choose the pictures. And since we’re on a visual medium, the focus is on photographs and the interactivity of the magazine,” says Hema.
( Notch is available as an app for an inaugural offer of Rs. 499 a year or Rs. 99 an per issue)
