Iconist grew out of Icon, the print luxury supplement of Welt am Sonntag. For the German launch of the iPad, Axel Springer's "Welt" group set out to build something beyond a digitised magazine: a tablet-only publication with content made specifically for touch.
NoMoreSleep, the Berlin design agency, built the app alongside "Welt" creative director Brian O'Connor and journalist Markus Albers. Fifteen stories were produced for the first issue, mixing product-led lifestyle content with experimental formats: filmed interviews, 360-degree room tours, and interactive image stories.
A pop-up piñata of lifestyle, fashion and culture.
Held upright, stories read in a slim single column; turned to landscape, the imagery takes over. Pop-up text layers added context to headlines, 360-degree views let readers explore rooms like the Hotel Adlon and China Club, and interactive product stories ranged from a Rolls-Royce test drive to a visit to the Boss tailoring atelier. Social sharing to Twitter and Facebook was built in from day one.
Iconist launched in 2010 as one of the first true tablet-native magazines in Germany, distinct from the wave of publisher apps that simply repackaged print pages as PDFs.
Built by NoMoreSleep for the Axel Springer "Welt" group, each quarterly issue was its own standalone app, combining product-led lifestyle journalism with formats designed specifically for the iPad.