We see the future of communication as digital

as well as print, as electronic as well as manual.

We also see the future as multi- dimensional,

diverse and instant.....,

..claim the editorial staff of the British magazine, Dazed and Confused. Displayed prominently on their website, www.confused.co.uk, the statement echoes the sentiments of many others within the magazine publishing industry.

The print industry, having long been one of the most traditional, stable and effective means of communication, is facing competition from a "new media". This media encompasses the Internet, World Wide Web, CDRom and Interactive Media. It is a phenomenon of the 1990's, having sprung out of seemingly nowhere. It is progressing rapidly to the point of having a presence in most households in the developed world. The print media is having to embrace this new development and most newspapers and magazines have rushed to put their publication at the forefront of this new technology, with most opting for a presence on the web.

This thesis will discuss attitudes of various magazines towards the web, and the steps they take when building a presence on the web. It will evaluate the results and discuss some of the main arguments surrounding this transition.

The first chapter is a brief introduction to magazines and mass communication, and the history of publication design.

Chapter Two deals with the emergence of the Internet, the rise of E-commerce and the possibilities for interactive marketing over the Internet. It discuses how magazines fit into this model and what digital media can bring to various publications. It also evaluates various existing magazines on-line and how they have fared on this new media.

Chapter Three deals specifically with the designer. Digital media has opened up new opportunities for designers, and this chapter discusses the growing importance of their role. The media has called for some adaption on the part of these designers and these are examined in detail.

Chapter Four examines the success of this transition from print to digital. It discusses existing magazines on-line and their strengths and weaknesses. This chapter examines success from both the publishers' and the users' point of view.

In order to analyse these arguments, it was necessary to consider two magazines carefully; to compare and contrast their design, approach and attitude towards digital media, and the level of their success, both creatively and financially. Speak and Wired are both San Francisco based printed magazines and both have been successful in integrating digital media into their publication on different scales and levels. These magazines are discussed in detail in Chapter Five.

Chapter Six highlights one of the main divergence of opinion surrounding the new media, that of "print versus screen". It discusses the advantages and disadvantages of both, under the subheadings of navigation, legibility and readability, stability, and interactivity and multimedia.

The CDRom included in this thesis acts as an illustration for this chapter, containing many visuals referred to in the text. The CD is organised under the same headings. Many interviews and surveys were carried out in support of this thesis. Dealing with such a current and topical subject, it is inevitable that almost everyone has an opinion on it and it was essential to get as broad a range of opinions as possible. These can be found as appendices at the end of the text.