For the University of Miami Herbert Business School Department of Accounting

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Making the most of a pivot to online events

For years, we created, edited, designed and helped write an annual print newsletter for the Department of Accounting at the Miami Herbert Business School. In 2020, the department wanted to go digital-only. So we created a mobile-first digital magazine, using a web platform based on HTML 5.

Click to check out the full digital magazine on Flipsnack.

Writing in this magazine came from both the department and the RB Editing & Writing team. Although the digital publication is 120 pages, it contains about the same amount of text as a 32-page print newsletter.

The real challenge for this publication was images. Normally, we’d have photos from a variety of events, from classes on campus and from portrait shoots RBEW conducts. With COVID-19, however, we had to rely on screenshots from virtual events, headshots, professional portraits that people supplied to us and the department’s photo archives.

The digital-only format allowed us to use screenshots and other images that were too low-resolution or low-quality to work in print. And, we used graphics our client had already created for event promotion and for social media. The digital-only format also allowed us to play more with font colors and fonts, although we stuck with those that are part of the official UM identity palette.

Another advantage of the digital-only platform is the ability to embed videos into magazine pages. Click on any video arrow, and the video will play right on the page. This keeps readers in the magazine, instead of taking them to a browser or video app.

We were also able to use a few interactive elements in this digital-only magazine. Clicking on any plus sign reveals more information – such as a PhD student’s favorite hobby. Clicking on any page title in the table of contents takes you straight to that page. And clicking on any underlined text takes you to a web page for more information.

The department distributed the magazine through email and social media. RBEW wrote text and created images for an HTML newsletter (the Miami Herbert Business School created the HTML in its internal system) introducing the digital magazine and sharing its link. The email also explained how to use the platform’s features or print the newsletter, and it teased several of the articles. For social media, the platform can create a variety of videos, GIFs, JPEGs and other visuals that are great for posting to social media along with the link to the newsletter.