Modern Storytelling for Bustle Digital Group

The Outline: The First Modern Mutation In Digital Publishing

With the looming threat of the publishing industry dying out, Joshua Topolsky, founding editor and publisher of The Outline, saw an opportunity in this chaotic and unpredictable media landscape.

The Outline is the deliberate alternative to the conventions of digital publishing. Whereas most publications get lost in a sea of homogenized content, the Outline offers a striking contrast, knowing how its unique users work — and what they want to see. It answers the question of what Tinder would look like if it replaced profile pictures with premium headline cards.

The core idea driving the vision is simple: Quality matters more than quantity. Quality storytelling, quality design and interface, quality ads, and quality audience.

Every post on the site is given a fully art-directed digital card that offers a variety of formats. Headlines might be bullet-pointed arguments, evocative phrases, interactive visuals, data visualizations, or pull quotes. Some headlines are designed to tell a complete story; some are used to frame a long-form essay.

The Outline understands that the digital era should make it possible to tell more stories in many more ways. It also knows that the details matter. The only way to properly execute this vision is to redesign the entire platform and to start experimenting.

Content Consumption

These two sister sites answer some of the most important questions facing the media landscape: How can new storytelling methods cut through the clutter? How can content be more efficient and smarter for readers? What are fresh, new, visual ways to convey the same ideas to readers when everybody's brain moves at Twitter speed?

There is no traditional homepage on Input and Inverse. To make content reach users faster and more efficiently, the site's navigation structure is centered around the feed, or the stream—an infinite scroll of cards that represents a story.

Each story offers a snippet—the headline, maybe a quote, a key stat, or a GIF, along with some information. The reader can then expand that story in the feed to read more, or continue scrolling. When one story finishes, users scroll right back into the infinite stream of stories.

Input and Inverse are built on the same back-end system but with different front-end visual expressions.

Input was inspired by old-school risograph designs with vibrant and colorful paint-like vibes. We then introduced modern CSS image effects and chose big, bold typography for impactfulness. Inverse was meant to be Input’s dark, mysterious, cinematic twin. The color schemes are sharper with higher contrasts, more gradients, and shadows to give a scientific, futuristic counterpoint to Input.

Brand Evolution

New audiences and topics meant new card types and new design motifs: horoscope cards, Q&A cards, e-commerce cards. Digital Issue Hubs and long-form article pages support Nylon and Bustle’s content calendars: monthly issues, cover shoots, and sit-down interviews.

The new, unique visual identities of Nylon and Bustle reflect its audience and editorial intent.

The primary audience for Bustle is the smart, witty, intelligent woman. The design features bold and clean typography with clear hierarchy and big moments to show off original photography. The color palette is warm, clean, and mature, and circular, graphic elements and postage stamp motifs bring out the visual personality of the site.

Nylon is all about discovering the next big thing in entertainment and music. Our design system brings to life grungy textures, graphical references like a music festival posters, hand-written graphics, and bold, energetic typography. The grid and scale of elements reflects the slower publishing pace with large imagery and expressive type.

Romper: Content Consumption Fit for Mom

Leveraging the extensive card system we've created for the previous brands in the Bustle Digital Group portfolio, we’ve redesigned one of the most exciting yet - Romper. The go to destination for Mom.

The primary audience for Romper is the informed, stylish, on-the-go Mom, with content topics ranging from Pregnancy to Toddler. The design provides a clear path of consumption to eloquently balance the need for dense content and spatial imagery. Romper features a warm palette, making any user feel an instance sense of comfortability and reliability.

We created multi-faceted reading experiences that allowed Mom’s. with all types of schedules, to engage with content in the formats that fit their consumption habits all throughout the day…providing them quick hits of information throughout the day while giving them a relaxing space to unwind and deep dive in the evening.

Romper is about getting to the right content to her at the right time.

The Zoe Report: The Go-To Site for the Go-To Trends

With over a decade of publishing experience since it first launched, The Zoe Report is the approachable middle ground between lifestyle and high-fashion within the Bustle Digital Group Universe, allowing for editors and stylists to cater to their audiences every consumption need.

The site provides editors with the ability to leverage a more subtle color palette, or when appropriate, easily change it up to interject color to support the larger site narrative. Think, Spring in Bloom. From featured editorial pieces to bespoke product lists, our tried and true storytelling card system flexes to manage any and all of The Zoe Reports needs.

Leaning on our existing Product System and ensuring that it feels unique and bespoke to The Zoe Report editorial teams needs while continuing to adhere to our original strategic direction and goals established with The Bustle Digital Group more than five years ago.

W Magazine: A New Design with a Timeless Feel

Fresh and original, our new design revamp for W marks a new chapter for this iconic publication. Launched in 1972, W is the premier fashion and culture destination, known for celebrating diversity and discovery through stunning visuals and eloquent storytelling.

The refined design features stay true to the spirit of W while providing a clean setting that allows every element of a photograph to shine through. The design also includes a fine balance in content and spacing so the reading experience is streamlined and enjoyable, never overwhelming.

Our bold design system allows readers to peruse inventive photography, thought-provoking features, and immersive editorials at their leisure, offering a chic, unique, and intelligent alternative to mainstream fashion titles. The card story format allows W o showcase its extensive collection of stunning photography and its breadth of fashion portfolios in an immersive experience that is reminiscent of the original printed magazine. It also adds interesting movement and visuals that enhance the storytelling of its editorial pieces.