Leading independent digital design and technology company MC Software Solutions has helped launch a new high quality international magazine showcasing Scotland to the world.
The bespoke website creation and system development consultancy has been instrumental in the startup and rapid growth of ‘Scotland Correspondent’ from the earliest stages.
Working closely with publishers Flag Media, an established news agency with more than 20 years experience providing news and features to UK and international media outlets, MCSS helped the agency expand into publishing.
Scotland Correspondent is a digital, and printed, magazine showcasing the country and Scottish products to a global audience. In six months MCSS has helped the publication reach thousands of readers in more than 22 countries.
MCSS has been involved with the technical creation of the online plat-form used by Scotland Correspondent in addition to the development of the magazine’s corporate branding across social media outlets.
“Flag Media has gone from being a provider of content to third party outlets to being a publisher in its own right, and we have been very happy to help in that transformation,” said Mark Coates, Director of MCSS.
“Initially we were tasked with creating a website and digital platform to promote the name and the presence of the magazine. Once that had been completed we started on phase two. That involved adapting the website and helping to roll out a soft launch of the magazine.”
Within six months the magazine was established and attracting readers from around the world. To cope with increasing demand and prepare the platform for further expansion MCSS was called upon to instigate Phase 3 of the project.
As a digital magazine Scotland Correspondent uses video and audio, embedded in the test of the publication, to help tell its stories.
“Our first job was to advise on suitable, secure hosting of the magazine website and then carry out a review of existing branding to ensure consistency across all digital platforms to better reflect the content and aspiration of the magazine,” said Mark.
“For our part MCSS created a modified masthead for the magazine better suited for consistency of the corporate brand. This was done using Adobe products so as to make life as easy as possible for the editorial and design teams of the magazine to use.
“We then updated the design of the website to reflect the new branding and created new bespoke plugins to seamlessly integrate the online magazine with the website.”
Throughout the processes MCSS has been responsible for ensuring on-going security, accessibility and user friendliness of the digital platform.
“MCSS has been instrumental in helping Flag Media evolve from being a supplier of news and feature content to others to being a publisher,” said Paul Kelbie, founder and editor of Flag Media.
“Working with MCSS has been a pleasure. No problem is insurmountable and their advice has always been invaluable.
“We have great plans for the future development and expansion of Scotland Correspondent, and other titles in the pipeline, in which MCSS will play a key role.”
MCSS has been providing bespoke software, website design and IT digital consultancy to clients across the UK since 2009.
It was founded by experienced IT specialist Mark Coates, who has been creating professional software for a variety of organisations from one-man bands to multi-nationals and FTSE 500 companies for over 25 years.
The aim of MCSS is always to provide clients with a complete, no-fuss, cost-effective, highly robust, secure and adaptable platform that meets all of their needs.