Forget The Devil Wears Prada. Ignore Miranda Priestly.

In fashion publishing only one authority is beyond challenge.

The. Dead. Line.

The deadline never bends; and only the closest collaboration between writers, editors, subs, photographers and page designers will get you across it. Conflict might make good box office, but only teamwork can put front pages on newsstands. And nobody knows that better than Condé Nast.

Since 1909

Getting content between the covers of glossy magazines and in front of the public has been their business since 1909, and they are horribly efficient at doing it. Vogue, The New Yorker, Ars Technica, GQ, Vanity Fair? All Condé Nast. All out on the streets and the web now, without fail.

So, yes of course, their newly opened London HQ in the Adelphi Building is glamorous and dressed to impress. But behind that fashionable art deco facade everything is designed for collaboration – with the tech to match.

The Well. Where the good work gets done.

Open a magazine and you’ll find ‘The Well’ where the big stories are printed, where there’s less advertising and more editorial. It’s where the best work gets shown. It’s the heart of the publication.

Open the doors at Condé Nast’s HQ and you’ll also find ‘The Well’. Equally the heart of things, this is a stunning stairwell-cum-informal presentation space – complete with a videowall of 6×14 Christie Velvet Apex 2.5mm indoor LED tiles powered by Pandoras Box.

“This building represents Condé Nast International’s digital future,” said Deepak Parma at architects MCM. “This building is ultimately a series of pockets where people work, and what it needed was a ‘heart space’ to bring people together, to collaborate, to celebrate, and to inspire them. The stairwell is the natural centrepiece of the building. We came up with some ideas of having this staircase which would double up as bleacher seating, enabling not only presentations, but also town hall meetings. Again, this idea of bringing everyone together was at the heart of that thought.”

Interestingly, MiX Consultancy, working alongside MCM, integrators Focus 21 and AV consultant Phil Hallchurch, didn’t select the high pixel pitch their budget would allow. In this environment, and with the planet’s best source of fashion content at their fingertips there just wasn’t the need, as Phil explains “At 2.5mm, we did not need to go any finer. The colour contrast is second to none, the quality and brightness of the image is great. The impact is ideal for what Condé Nast International wanted to do.”

“Where teams spontaneously meet”

That impact can already be seen. Aidan Geary, Director of Operations, Condé Nast International Digital: “They created the beating heart of the office. The impact has been two-fold, the media wall is not just arresting in its beauty, it has become a place where teams spontaneously meet to hold presentations and get feedback from others. We saw an instant change in how people worked.”

Just how well people do work together can be seen on that videowall too. Christie had recommended MiX use Amigo as content management and creative partner, and they have used Spyder X20 and Pandoras Box to create robust content management and processing – working with Condé Nast to build a template structure and a custom interface that allow teams to drop in their own content.

Whatever they’re working on, whatever they’re proudest of, gets seen by all.

In The Devil Wears Prada, it turns out Meryl Streep’s Miranda Priestly isn’t the hero after all. It’s Anne Hathaway’s Andy Sachs who wins the day; seeing past the glamour and getting the job done.

And by having a sweet, collaborative, nature of course.