Welcome to the third of six episodes in this year’s magazine miniseries!
If you want to learn more about the magazine industry through conversations, I encourage you to check out the 15 previous episodes in this series: 055-057, 063-065, 119-121 and 149-154.
Our guest today is Alyssa Andino. Alyssa (they/she) is the Senior Product Manager for Mobile Apps at Rakuten Kobo, where they focus on ensuring people always have access to a world-class reader right in their pocket. On top of their day job, Alyssa also leads Kobo’s Women and Diverse Genders committee and teaches book production and design at Toronto Metropolitan University. Offline, you can find them boxing, playing board games, or (what else is new?) reading.
In this conversation, you’ll learn more about what Alyssa’s role entails and more about digital reading experiences, including what works and what doesn’t work. You’ll learn about the ways that Alyssa and her team are thinking of the reading experience beyond fonts (size, style and colour).
You’ll hear tips for using Adobe InDesign effectively to consider both the print experience and the digital reading experience (your future self will thank you for it!) and you’ll learn more about accessibility features Alyssa must consider in the app she manages. Finally, Alyssa and I brainstorm what digital reading might look like as technology advances.
This episode is part of a guest lecture series in CGCM 720 Magazine Production & Publishing, as well as DG 8111 Digital Publishing in The Creative School at Toronto Metropolitan University.
Let’s listen in…
About Our Guest:
Alyssa Andino (they/she) is the Senior Product Manager for Mobile Apps at Rakuten Kobo, where they focus on ensuring people always have access to a world-class reader right in their pocket. On top of their day job, Alyssa also leads Kobo’s Women and Diverse Genders committee and teaches book production and design at Toronto Metropolitan University. Offline, you can find them boxing, playing board games, or (what else is new?) reading.
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Music:
Weird Science - John Bartmann licensed under a CC0 1.0 Universal License
Talk Paper Scissors Theme Music: Retro Quirky Upbeat Funk by Lewis Sound Production via Audio Jungle