Two popular Italian design publications join on WeChat

1 min read December 06, 2019

How international publications come to China

Owned by the Milan-based international multimedia publishing conglomeration RCS:

Abitare is a monthly magazine from Milan, Italy. With almost 60 years of history, it is considered to be one of the top design magazines worldwide.

Living is a design, furniture, home, interiors and lifestyle monthly magazine, and a weekly publication in a local Milan newspaper.

Design in China

In preparation for the Salone del Mobile.Milano in Shanghai, an exhibition that showcases a selection of top Italian companies, Abitare and Living came together in a joint WeChat feed – designed by Flow.

WeChat minisite design

The unique UI challenge was to bring two distinct visual identities together in a combined WeChat mini-site. We maintained the distinct red from Abitare and recreated the feeling of reading a magazine by utilizing different sized images to recreate a similar layout to Living. With the Chinese audience in mind, we localized Abitare and Living in a joint newsfeed. We separated the two components of the Chinese logo and name, 居住, Abitare (住) and Living (居) to create the newsfeed filter. The immersion into the world of Italian design is created with high quality images at the forefront and a simple, intuitive layout. Surrounded by this environment, readers can explore Chinese localized articles, publications, and of course, learn more about Abitare and Living.

We really enjoyed working with the designer minds of AbitareLiving, and with the follower gain of 1,500 during the first two days of the exhibit, it was deemed a success!

“Everything went well at the Shanghai exhibit, and people were eager to subscribe to the WeChat mini-site. As for Flow, I could not have found better collaborators. Speaking for myself and on behalf of my boss, we express our compliments on a job well done.”