Posted by Liz Niland on February 14, 2011
OUR NEW FAVOURITE DIGITAL LIBRARY: NO LAYOUT DISPROVES THE BELIEF THAT PRINT AND ONLINE ARE SUNDERED ENTITIES AND NEVER THE TWAIN SHALL MEET.
Based in Italy, Switzerland and the United States, No Layout is the love child of the digital age: a single online destination housing, and facilitating the low-fuss reading of scores upon scores of print magazines. It taps into the longing we all have to sit cross-legged beneath a leafy tree, knees draped with an intriguing publication and brings it into the office.
A digital library for independent publishers, No Layout focuses on art books and fashion magazines – but never delves into the ho-hum. Whether you’re on an iWhatever, a laptop or a slow ol’ work computer, No Layout lets users flip through full content on any screen without downloads, fancy browsers or apps.
I managed to track down editor-in-chief Jonas Brunschwig for a chinwag about what’s in store for your new favourite website (other than this one, of course).
Covered: the future of publishing, being passionately dispassionate and avoiding anything lukewarm
Liz Niland: Who’s behind No Layout & when did it come about?
Jonas Brunschwig: The site came about last summer and we are based between Switzerland (Daniel Pianetti – project manager), Italy (Bogdan Licar – chief coder) and the United States (myself and Daniel at times).
LN: What was your motivation in creating No Layout?
JB: The idea was to offer an online platform for any publication and eventually it was narrowed down to offer a point of reference online for independent publications.
LN: What do you look for when you are pulling together publications for the site?
JB: We look for our publications to be either hot or cold, and we try to discard the ones that are lukewarm.
LN: Right, nothing mediocre. Good plan. Will you focus on continuing to keep bringing the printed into the online sphere? Or are there any plans to work with publishers to offer online-only content on No Layout?
JB: We focus on what there is, and currently printed publications outnumber online publications. We are open to any publisher that wants to offer exclusive online content on No Layout, but ultimately it is the publisher's decision to go the extra distance.
LN. So what do you see the near future holding for No Layout?
JB: Our intention is to establish a closer collaboration with a few selected publishers that we deem worthy or unworthy to be featured.
LN. As the Editor-In-Chief of a site that obviously appreciates both print & online publications, what are you thoughts on the old “print is dead” line? Will online and print – and the organisations that produce such work – be able to happily live together?
JB: For the immediate future print and online publications can happily live together; reading on an iPad and on a book does not yet happen in the same context. As for organisations, we are not interested in generalisations; if a publisher isn't dynamic and decides to adopt extreme positions it is his problem. We limit ourselves to offering a digital library for independent publishers, regardless of their idiosyncrasies or sympathies.
LN: While online is certainly the way to spread the word & get plenty of people into the pages of publications they otherwise wouldn't access, it's often criticised as a not-so-good place for revenue-making. Is No Layout a not-for-profit passion-based organisation? Or are you seeking to use it as a building block for a bigger online publishing house?
JB: We are passionately dispassionate, profit and non-profit are not our current concern. As the site grows we might take into consideration more ambitious objectives, perhaps with the support of private foundations. Perhaps in the future we will look into our own publishing house.
no layout, jonas brunschwig