Monday, October 4, 2010

Issuu and the Realization of Digital Magazine Popularization

Or perhaps instead of "popularization," I should have written "democratization." I've been setting up my company's print magazine on issuu.com, a fantastic digital magazine platform that's so easy to use and so beautiful to behold that I keep thinking it might just be too good to be true.

Enough of my mushy praise, eh?

Well, I'm also going to set up a personal account on issuu so I can create some digital-only publications of my own. I've already got the first one partially planned out (readers of this blog won't be surprised by the content or tone), and I'm having a ball designing and writing it.

Issuu is available for free accounts and in very inexpensive ($19 per month) "pro" accounts.

For someone who loves print as much as I do to be this excited about a digital platform, some very specific attributes had to be included in the service. First, the digital publication looks like a magazine as you page through it online. That was what really hooked me. But second, as I've noted in the past, the key to magazines' future is the ability to print and bind a digital magazine at the home or office and have it turn out to be as good as a newsstand-bought copy; issuu isn't there yet, but the print-outs of pages are crisp and clear, and I think it's a big step on the road to nirvana. HP can complete the circle by continuing their ever-increasing sophistication of personal printers.

I have written here in praise of digital platforms such as MagCloud (which is really a print-on-demand service). But consider me a full acolyte in the issuu.com movement. Drinking the kool-aid and all.

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