TheAtlantic.com has relaunched for the first time since 2012 with a renewed focus on beauty, impact, and optimisation across platforms. The new site was designed and built by a collaboration across the organisation and features a reimagined navigation, homepage layout, and article elements, all of which are intended to provide a high-touch, high-performance experience that the readers of The Atlantic said they wanted.
"There's enough clutter and distraction out there already. We wanted to bring the classic Atlantic values of focus and impact to bear on the urgency of the Web, to give our journalism the visual power we think big ideas deserve," said James Bennet, The Atlantic co-president and editor in chief.
"Our developers created a site that gives our editors maximum flexibility to tell a story, providing them with a menu of templates for everything from breaking news, essays, and cover articles to infographics, photo galleries, and video," said Bob Cohn, co-president and chief operating officer. "And with more than half our audience coming to us from a smartphone or tablet, we made it a priority to create a potent experience for mobile readers and mobile advertisers."
Key components of the new site, say The Atlantic, include:
• Enhanced Visuals; Simplified Navigation; Storied Journalism: To provide simplicity and focus, the homepage of TheAtlantic.com features new modules that can showcase a single powerful story or gather coverage around single topics, presenting fuller context and diversity of perspective around important news. Large, full-bleed images add drama and depth; new block quote modules provide another outlet to engage readers. Responsive navigation enables visitors to scroll and share seamlessly. A redesigned "Most Popular" module encourages readers to spend more time on the site.
• Optimal Experience. Anywhere, Anytime, Any Screen: Since its last full redesign three years ago, TheAtlantic.com has seen its audience nearly double, with many readers now navigating via social media channels and arriving via mobile devices. By providing a faster, more clearly organized mobile experience, The Atlantic meets the needs of its increasingly mobile audience, as it continues to look ahead to further innovations in how it delivers its stories.
• The Next Phase of Custom Advertising:TheAtlantic.com has been updated to feature new custom advertising modules with more placement options throughout the site, including custom options for the mobile platform and expanded opportunities for innovative custom sponsored content campaigns. To take advantage of these new placements, The Atlantic's creative marketing division, Re:think, rolls out an ambitious custom advertising campaign today. Sponsored by E*Trade, "Stocks in the Social Age" features an interactive dashboard that pulls in social data around the top trending stocks on social media.
• Harnessing the Power ofThe AtlanticBrand: The redesign further connects the look and feel of The Atlantic's digital platforms with their print counterpart. The Atlantic's familiar, bold logo has been given a new, badged treatment on the site that recalls its presentation within the rectangle of the magazine's cover. Other font changes to the site strengthen the coherence of The Atlantic's design, creating instantly recognizable statements of the brand across all its platforms.
Along with the digital relaunch is "The Atlantic Daily," a new afternoon email. Replacing the current "Top Stories" morning aggregation, the Atlantic Daily will encourage reader engagement by identifying significant points of focus from the day. Presented in a modular format, permanent and revolving sections will include a brief news wrap-up, the day in "verbs," "outstanding question," "three short points," "pop quiz," and more.
