I am currently in the final stages of editing, designing, developing and publishing an app devoted to the work of the Dutch designer Wim Crouwel. The app is a multi-media extension of the catalogue for the Design Museum’s recent Crouwel show. I was co-editor, co-designer and co-publisher of the printed catalogue.

The app is a vastly expanded version of the printed catalogue. It contains video and audio components, typographic animations, and images of the actual exhibition – none of which could be included in the printed version.

The project involved looking closely at the relationship between a printed book (in this case, the existing Crouwel catalogue) and a proposed electronic version (in this case, a fully interactive app). It is clear that if books and apps are to co-exist, then both formats require a reason to exist. In my researches, I have concluded that both formats have merits and demerits – some obvious, some less obvious. For example – the addition of audio and video components to an app are clear benefits, but less obvious are devices possible within the app such as integrated footnotes (click on a link and it appears in the body of the text next to its source – not elsewhere.)

More and more institutions and commercial organisations – as well as anyone with an interest in publishing – are searching for ways of utilising app technology as a publishing medium; this project provides a design and editorial methodology for achieving this. It will be available shortly from iTunes.

The dual appearance of printed books and books-as-apps is still in its infancy. There are only a handful of physical design books that co-exist with app versions – and those that do exist are stilted affairs - making minimal use of the new interactive publishing format.

Our aims to be a first in the sector; unlike most book-into-app productions where the book is developed and then migrated to the app platform with minimal adjustment for the new electronic format with its extensive possibilities for re-inventing the publishing model. Wim Crouwel the app, is not a format conversion – it is developed to fully utilise app technology in a new and dynamic way.

The development of the Wim Crouwel app has been developed under the scrutiny of the Design Museum curatorial staff, and with Crouwel himself. Apple software engineers are also currently subjecting it to scrutiny before being passed for distribution in iTunes.