We design and develop storytelling apps for the iPad, blending our capabilities in design, illustration and animation. Our most recent apps are among the highest ranked in the iTunes App Store. Our work has appeared in the iPad editions of Time, Fortune, BusinessWeek, Macworld and other publications, and we created the first animated magazine cover produced by Time Inc.

Our most recent apps include The Final Hours of Portal 2, a blockbuster app about a blockbuster video game. We worked directly with journalist Geoff Keighley, host of GameTrailers TV on Spike and executive producer of the network’s Video Game Awards, to turn his 15,000-word manuscript into a robust interactive experience. Keighley takes his audience behind the scenes at Valve Software, creators of the Portal franchise as well as popular video games such as Half-Life and Left 4 Dead, to reveal the people and processes that come together to make a blockbuster game. The app is featured at thefinalhoursofportal2.com.

“The Final Hours of Portal 2 is one of the first examples of original, long-form journalism for iPad,” said Keighley, previously published in Entertainment Weekly, Business 2.0 and other magazines. “I can’t think of a better partner to bring my vision to life than Joe Zeff Design. Joe and his team were tireless allies during development, and were always willing to go the extra mile.”

Joe Zeff Design collaborated with Touch Press — publisher of “The Elements,” the highest grossing eBook in the App Store — on the design of “Solar System for iPad.” The two companies worked together on the design of the application icon, title page, home page, navigation controls, typographic hierarchies and layout templates. We created several of its key illustrations and animations, including cutaways of each planet that allow the viewer to peel open each planet to see what’s inside. The title was named App of the Week by Apple, and is featured prominently in Apple’s promotion of iPad 2. Joe Zeff Design and Touch Press are currently working together on other products.

“It has been a real pleasure working with Joe Zeff Design, who bring years of experience in delivering the highest quality illustrations and information graphics to the iPad,” said Max Whitby, CEO of Touch Press. “They are consummate professionals. We look forward to publishing further ground-breaking titles with their help.”

Company president Joe Zeff has traveled worldwide to consult with publishers and designers on next-generation business models that combine new and existing content with the multimedia capabilities of the tablets. He has addressed audiences at the Poynter Institute for Media Studies and the Society of Publication Design about the iPad and other tablets, and the studio’s blog has an international following. The studio has developed its own branded app, “Above & Beyond: George Steinmetz,” and iPhone, iPad and Android apps for PepsiCo.

Joe Zeff Design is a Silver Authorized Solution Partner of WoodWing Software and is developing its own apps using WoodWing’s Digital Magazine Tools.