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April 12, 2011

Issuu – Designer Documents & Online Publications

Issuu is an application that can jazz up any document and make it look both professional and polished. The web publishing service helps people upload their documents online and also makes it easy to collect, post, and share images, layouts, and virtually anything else on the web. People who use Issuu can create beautiful online publications that look and act like virtual magazines, complete with crystal clear images and pages that turn at the corners.

Whether you’re looking to make a professional report, a travelogue, or a fashion magazine filled with snapshots of all your friends, all you’ll need to get started with Issuu is the documents themselves. Sign up for an account or log in directly through Facebook, and you can begin uploading your PDF files or Word documents right away. Put the various documents you’ve uploaded into one file and you’ve got a seamless online publication that you can easily share with friends and colleagues. Ensure that your new web-mag will be read by many by embedding it directly on your blog or personal website. Publications created with Issuu will also show up in the application’s public directly.

Of course, Issuu isn’t just useful for people who want to create digital magazines devoted to fashion or travel. The web-app also serves as a document library for people who need a secure place to store files online, as well as a virtual bookshelf for avid readers who want to keep all their magazine subscriptions in one central place. People who subscribe to their favorite digital publications with Issuu can sit back and relax as the latest issues of their online journals are published straight on their library wall. Overall, Issuu is an excellent step forward in the realm of good-looking digital publications.

Practical Uses:

  • Create a fashion magazine devoted to the latest trends at your school
  • Publish research findings in an online format that people can review
  • Embed your new digital magazine on the front page of your website
  • Publish the book you have been working on in an online format

Insider Tips:

  • Analytics tools let publishers know how many people are reading their content
  • The Issuu platform can be used to customize the look of a particular publication
  • Digital documents can be downloaded and saved on the desktop at any time
  • Facebook integration makes it easy to share publications with online friends

What we liked:

  • Individual pages flip much more quickly on Issuu than with similar services
  • People who read their magazines online never have to worry about clutter in their homes
  • Issuu lets people explore the web-magazines being put together by other users
  • Publications can be easily shared via email links or embedded on any website

What we didn’t like:

  • Users with free accounts will see an advertisement sidebar alongside their embedded and standalone publications

Alternatives:

Company Info:

  • Launched: December 2007
  • Privately Held
  • Headquarters: New York, New York and Copenhagen, Denmark
  • Founded by: Michael Hansen, Ruben Bjerg Hansen, Mikkel Jensen, and Martin Ferro-Thomsen
  • Web site: http://issuu.com

Costs:

  • Free for basic users
  • Pro account is $19/month

Comments

  1. greg

    Issuu is nice, but it keeps the publications on their servers..
    You never know when they decide to change the look and functions of the flipbook, add commercials you didn’t want to be near your publications, and so on.. They can even delete it without asking you.
    So I prefer keeping my content on my server, and the best solution for this I found is http://www.pressmo.com

  2. Sara

    I think issuu is a good way for users who don’t have it’s own servers. It’s also a good way to share your publications to other. For website owners, you can choose desktop tool to help you. I use this tool: http://www.kvisoft.com/flipbook-maker/

  3. Maggie

    Issue is really good as a free tool.
    Also, there are some free yet powerful free flip page converters, like
    Codebox: http://www.codebox.com
    Flipsnack: http://www.flipsnack.com,
    Free Flash Page Flip: http://www.flashpageflip.com/FreeFPF.asp
    I think these free tools could help us do some simple conversion. The page-flipping effect looks amazing. Ha~.
    However, for making more professional flipping books, some economical application is recommended, like XFlip http://www.xflip.com/digital-magazine-software.html

  4. Anton

    I know at least two good issuu competitors. It’s http://www.scribd.com and http://www.paperzz.com

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