From print to web to e-paper: the challenge of designing the e-newspaper

This paper presents future scenarios of use and design of the e-newspaper, i.e. the newspaper on epaper. These scenarios are based on experiences from prototyping e-newspaper interfaces and from a survey with newspaper designers and management. The findings show e.g. that the design from the printed edition and the functionality of the online newspaper were considered preferable attributes for the e-newspaper, and that mobility, interactivity, adjustment for special target groups and personalization were the most frequently suggested functionalities. Several issues regarding navigation, pagination, structure and overview were discussed during the prototyping, leading to layout suggestions for a one page 5.8 x 8.2 inches display with navigation both on the hardware and in the graphical user interface. Pagination was considered important as well as the ability to estimate the amount of content of the e-newspaper, and the possibility to return to the page from which an article was chosen to read. From the findings three future scenarios are proposed, for a) senior citizens in sparsely populated areas, b) business travelers, and c) young early adopters.