Within this specific article, the aesthetic qualities of the The Daily on the iPad have been scrutinised due to the fact that the usability and the experience of using the application just is not good.
The carousel navigation seemingly resembles the iTunes and seems quite easy to locate different articles. To an extent, the designers felt that was the simplest way to give a good overview of all the content, and subconsciously remind the user that this is an iTunes-style paid content environment – though you can't burn your existing digital publications and view them through the Daily. In addition, the application is hindered, due to the poor quality of the page images, which resemble JPGs that have been copied again and again.
As you progress through to one of the sections – news, opinion, sport, apps and games, arts and life and gossip, a progress bar appears which reinforces the feeling there is a different design feel for each content section and that these are almost separate magazines.
Stephen Fry beautifully articulated at the UK launch of the iPad, we are human beings and respond emotionally to things, not functionally. This suggests that people would gradually become used to using the iPad over time. Though the complexity of the functions may be too much for consumers
Many people and companies such as Mashable ( a social media group) feel that the Daily is "a second-rate magazine, not a newspaper". Therefore many consumers may feel that the iPad is not revolutionary in terms of its content, which could be similar to a print newspaper.
However, the Daily offers a more coherent alternative to traditional newspapers, as it contains news/sport/opinion, fashion, gossip, and tech on one newspaper and not four, like the Sunday Times. Therefore, the convergence of the news may give instant gratifications to the consumers, who have a choice to select which content to browse.
Though many critics have dismissed the Daily due its design flaws: "Maybe they've hired a good staff of writers and editors, but they sure need better designers and engineers. The experience just isn't good enough." The fact that a group of writers are working together makes the content more interesting and engaging, yet the aesthetics are seemingly poor for the iPad newspaper.
To an extent the Daily should not be harshly judged , as it offers a range of news, yet there is still some need for newsworthy material. "It's probably not fair to judge the app by its first edition, but there seems to be a lack of hard news and a strong focus on lifestyle stories . The fact that the Daily features a horoscope section is a clear example of its legacy sensibility.
"Also, the news part of the Daily isn't keeping up with recent developments. The story about Egypt, for example, is based on old information and the paper currently makes no mention of the violent clashes that happened in Cairo today." In effect the Daily has flaws with its updating of recent content, as the latest news is not shown , therefore being less reliable for consumers who may turn to other ways of getting their news, for example BBC News websites, pod casts etc.
We'd expect a decent amount of redesign, and it's only fair to see this as a technical beta version of the Daily. But the editorial proposition is a harder thing to refine, and defining what that offer is to potential customers – beyond existing free news and established brands – may turn out to be the Daily's biggest challenge. The hardest challenge for the Daily is to establish itself as a popular brand and to become the 'next big thing', as previously Murdoch failed with ventures into social networking, with MySpace and Aol, which were big money flops.
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