about Client
Literary Notebook: Online Journal and Internal Advertising System
Literary Notebook is a cultural journal published by the Wrocław House of Literature. Its aim is to promote the perspectives and works of Lower Silesian writers, poets, and emerging literary critics.
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Project hours:
180
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Industry:
Art, culture, entertainment
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Main technology and integrations:
WordPress | MemberPress
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Services:
web design | web development
Introduction
Literary Notebook is a cultural journal published by the Wrocław House of Literature. Its aim is to promote the perspectives and works of Lower Silesian writers, poets, and emerging literary critics. The journal's online platform collects texts deemed interesting by the editorial team. The opportunity to publish on the website is open to those interested.
The starting point for the project
The website for Literary Notebook was developed based on solutions prepared earlier for Theatrical Notebook. The goal was to create a new design that would distinguish it from the "parent site" while utilizing the same main template layouts for subpages. We did not need to design new wireframes, as the functional requirements for both sites were similar—primarily enabling login/registration and the ability to publish content in both free and premium (paid) access formats. In both cases, a key element was also facilitating the purchase of e-books (digital versions of the journals).
The goals and perspective at the start of the project
- User registration/login for visitors to the website.
- Content available both for free and for a fee.
- Access to paid content should be possible through one-time purchases as well as through subscriptions.
- A system for searching and filtering texts by metadata.
- Integration with the Przelewy24 payment gateway.
- The ability to purchase the journal in digital formats - ePub, Mobi, PDF.
- Promotional coupons - the ability to generate coupons.
- Email notifications (order confirmation, account creation information, data change notifications, subscription expiration reminders, etc.).
- Reports - a summary of transactions for a given month.
- Internal advertising system.
The Approach
For Literary Notebook, we started by analyzing the logo and the concept for the first issue's cover, which defined our graphic style. We aimed for a minimalist web design where the graphic solutions would reference old machine printing, presented in a monochromatic scheme with various shades of off-white, sepia, and strong black accents.
Regarding the development phase, we took the rare opportunity to copy an existing website, allowing us to focus on adjusting the CSS styles and tailoring a few key functionalities (such as article filtering) to fit the needs of this project. These actions enabled the client to optimize the budget, which was a crucial aspect of the entire undertaking.
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Internal Advertising System
Magazine publishers value the ability to publish sponsored articles or promotional materials in the form of advertising banners. This method provides a way to monetize the traffic and interest generated around content (often including free content). Ads are not always detrimental to users; if they are tailored to the profile of the content available on the site, there is a good chance that users will appreciate seeing a banner for a literary festival, artistic event, or book release that might interest them. The dedicated advertising system allows the editorial team to upload ad creatives that will be displayed in specific advertising boxes for a predefined period. Editors can set the start and end dates for promotions and manage the order of banner ads in the slider on the main page, as well as the sequence of boxes presenting content on the homepage.
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Premium Access Articles
The magazine’s website has been designed to allow the editorial team to manage content retention, determining which articles should be available for a fee and which should be free. This mechanism is provided by the MemberPress plugin. If an article is marked as premium, users can view a short excerpt (e.g., the first paragraph), while the remaining text is hidden behind a prompt offering the option to make a one-time purchase to access that specific article. Alternatively, users can purchase access to the entire online service, including all premium content. In both cases, users must create an account so that the system can recognize which of the two payment options they have chosen. It is crucial that payments are quick, which is why MemberPress and Przelewy24 support payments via BLIK and 3D (using a CVC code). With the CVC code, users can purchase additional texts with just one click. We assumed that any new magazine entering the market must compete by being available not only on bookstore shelves but also online.
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User Registration/Login
The user panel is provided by the MemberPress plugin. Through this, any visitor to the website can create their own user account while making a payment (typically for access to an eBook or full access to a premium article). The user panel allows for the editing of personal information, viewing the list of completed transactions, accessing available articles, and renewing or canceling subscriptions.
Summation
In two months, we launched the website for a new literary journal. The project is now entirely managed by the House of Literature.
