Global Finance
Founded in 1987, Global Finance is an authoritative monthly publication focused on the complexities of financial globalization. Established by Joseph D. Giarraputo, the former publisher of Venture magazine, alongside Carl G. Burgen, Stephan Spahn, H. Allen Fernald, and Paolo Panerai, Global Finance has built a reputation for delivering critical insights to top-tier financial professionals. Global Finance magazine is a part of Class Editori Group, a prominent Italian media company specializing in finance and lifestyle content. Listed on the Borsa Italiana stock exchange, Class Editori maintains a robust digital presence and fosters international partnerships with major players such as Dow Jones, NBC, and General Electric.
The Client's Challenge
Since 2002, Global Finance’s digital platform, Gfmag.com, has complemented the print magazine by offering additional insights, interviews, and comprehensive economic data on 192 countries. An outdated version of the Django content management system (CMS) originally powered Gfmag.com for almost 20 years. When Global Finance came to WebDevStudios, our objectives were to migrate the site to WordPress, which included a new WordPress installation, rebuild, and a redesign that showcased a modernized frontend experience, emphasizing an attractive, responsive experience that Global Finance Magazine was lacking, until WebDevStudios rebuilt it.
Industry: Financial News
Expertise: Branding, Redesign, Data Migration, Ad Integration.
A Modern Web Approach to a Classic Magazine Style
Moving the Global Finance website to a new WordPress environment required a comprehensive redesign and rebuild of its entire digital platform. Respecting Global Finance’s distinguished branding and editorial style, we meticulously crafted a fresh, sophisticated, and streamlined digital space for the renowned publisher.
Our team not only ensured a cohesive and modern frontend but also enhanced the overall user experience with intuitive navigation, faster load times, and responsive design. The result is a visually stunning, high-performance website that seamlessly aligns with Global Finance’s prestigious identity and meets the demands of its global audience.
Django to WordPress Migration
For years, Global Finance’s website, Gfmag.com, was powered by an outdated version of Django CMS in combination with an additional legacy CMS from circa 2000, which had been poorly migrated and integrated. To get Gfmag.com up and running on a new WordPress installation, our team had to manually migrate a 20-year-old code base that was not up to industry standards.
Today, Gfmag.com is powered by modernized code, the WordPress Block Editor, and ACF Blocks.
Customized Solutions
Sponsored Content
Ensuring transparency and fostering trust with the audience are paramount for any media company, and Global Finance stands as a prime example in this regard. Clearly labeling sponsored content as such is essential to differentiate promotional material from unbiased editorial content. This practice is not only vital for maintaining integrity but also empowers readers to make informed decisions about the content they engage with.
To address this need, our team implemented an intuitive solution that allows Gfmag.com’s editors to easily designate content as sponsored. By introducing a custom post type paired with a user-friendly toggle switch, Global Finance’s content team can now seamlessly indicate sponsored content. Moreover, to guarantee immediate recognition by the audience, our design team has developed an unmistakably clear visual indicator on the website, ensuring readers are immediately aware when they are viewing sponsored material.
Flourish Integration
Flourish was specifically designed to enable anyone to craft compelling narratives through data visualization. At Gfmag.com, leveraging data is a fundamental aspect of the media company’s storytelling. Flourish embraces a variety of visual tools, such as dynamic global maps and elucidative charts, to convey data-driven insights effectively—all of which Global Finance needed on its website.
To enhance Global Finance’s capabilities in presenting data as engaging stories, WebDevStudios seamlessly integrated Flourish into the brand’s WordPress website. As a result of this integration, Gfmag.com is now equipped to incorporate a diverse array of interactive charts and graphs, enabling the presentation of information in a captivating and informative manner.
Custom-Built Ad Block
Instead of using an existing ad block and customizing its functions to meet Global Finance’s requirements, our team custom-built one from scratch! Initially, the media company was limited regarding ad placement and sizes. Now with the WebDevStudios-built ad block created exclusively for Global Finance, its editorial team can place ads anywhere on the website using any size dimensions that meet the company’s needs.