A news app for regional and local content is the first fruits of two new appointments at German developer red.web.

Journalists Sandra Elgass and Niki Radtke have joined the company after a couple of years with daily newspaper Rhein-Zeitung, and have been set to work in Koblenz on the new app. Recently they have been on a mission to explore opportunities in the digital and mobile business, “travelling, testing and wondering” on behalf of red.web.

As journalists, both focused on online and multimedia Journalism and social media, thanks to a strategic decision by publisher (and red.web parent) Mittelrhein-Verlag to come up with new ideas and products.

An early assignment saw Siegmund Radtke, manager of Mittelrhein-Verlag and Christian Lindner, editor-in-chief of the Rhein-Zeitung relieving Elgass and Radtke of everyday duties to enable them to spend two weeks developing ideas about the use of digital and mobile in regional publishing. They met colleagues from many departments, and have gathered their experiences on a tumblr blog at http://appforscher.tumblr.com/

They also test usability of other news apps, discuss about the design and discover where the content comes from… trying to figure out what it takes for a news app to be awesome. They have also assisted marketing and sales at red.web.

Pictured: Sandra Elgaß and Niki Radtke explore opportunities in the digital and mobile