The Friday Fillip: Taking Issuu

I’ve been meaning for a while now to do a fillip on Issuu, the online magazine creation tool; and when I saw yesterday that CanLII had done up its strategic plan using Issuu, that gave me the push I needed.

As I said, Issuu is a digital publishing platform that lets you create a glossy online magazine, brochure, or report that can be read on pretty much any digital device. All of which is cool if you’re into self publishing. I’m pointing it out to you, though, as a source of a lot of fancy and free content — it is Friday, after all, and consumption, not creation, is the proper “c” word at week’s end, is it not?

So what’s available once you’ve read the CanLII report? Start on the main Publications page. From here you can drill down by facets such as popularity or “recency.” Or you can browse through one of the 15 named categories (none of which is “law” by the way). You’ll see that there’s a lot of corporate and marketing dross, but here and there a nugget shines.

For example, I found Spenser, a new bimonthly food and drink magazine that looks as though I could waste half an hour or so flipping through. (Don’t forget to use full screen mode; much more enjoyable.) Or for something more tried and true in the food realm, there’s Jamie Oliver’s magazine. Here are some other finds that might appeal (though hunting on your own could be half the fun):

• Little White Lies – “a bi-monthly, independent movie magazine that features cutting edge writing, illustration and photography”
• “Design by Nature: Using Universal Forms and Principles in Design” (sample chapter)
• Cyprus, 10000 years of history and civilization
• On Snow Magazine
• Electronic Beats – “Electronic Beats Magazine delivers features and interviews with artists from the music and other creative industries…” (Deutsche Telekom)

And if you can’t be bothered to hunt and peck for yourself, simply let Issuu parade its “featured” magazines down there at the bottom of the home page.