It’s billed as an iPad magazine, but Punch–which we first reported on last week–is less a magazine than it is a clever collection of culturally relevant apps and games. Revolving around pop culture topics that range from the highbrow (“Hedge Fund or Organic Farm?”) to the low (“Closet Case,” where you can dress up a paper doll version of Rick Santorum), Punch is a re-imagining of the iPad format, delivered to us by a cabal of Manhattan media folks, including Daily Candy founder Dany Levy and former Radar editor Maer Roshan.
Now, Punch has announced that it has tapped Jim Windolf to serve as the mag’s first Editor in Chief. Mr. Windolf has a long-established media career–he’ll be leaving his position as a contributing editor at Vanity Fair, where he’s served for over a decade, to join the Punch team. (Spoiler: he also worked at the Observer for nine years before joining Vanity Fair.)
“I feel good about it,” Mr. Windolf told Betabeat by phone. “I wanted to learn something new and didn’t want to get stuck on Print Island in case that’s going to be overwhelmed by digital media. When David Bennahum showed me the prototype they had of Punch it blew me away. It gave me a lot of ideas, and it looks like fun.”
It will be interesting to see how Mr. Windolf will fare with the transition from the world of print, which he’s worked in for over 20 years, to an entirely digital publication. But considering his breadth of experience, and the enthusiasm he has for the new medium, we’d say Punch is lucky to have him join the team.
To learn more about Punch, check out this video the team created to explain it, which made us actually l-o-l.
