Issuu blog

Earlier this month, we asked Issuuers to enter their best interactive magazines in an Issuu contest. We talk to the editor of winning Leaf Mag, Susan Cohan, about what an interactive magazine should feature.

What do you believe it takes for a magazine to be interactive today?

We believe that interactivity adds to a magazine’s ability to engage readers.  Linking for linking’s sake isn’t really the point.  Magazines have to use interactive possibilities to enrich and enhance their magazine’s content.  Digital, interactive magazines make reading a more active experience than just flipping pages and reading.  They also make it easier for readers to connect with products and ideas they like.

How do you prioritize interactiveness when creating Leaf Mag?

Our first priority is always the content of Leaf.  We want it to be beautiful and informative as well as useful.  The interactive component is based more on the latter two criteria.  We ask ourselves…Is this something that our readers want to see more of?  Can we enhance their experience with Leaf with an interactive component?  We’d love to have even more interactive options like embedded video on our pages, but it’s one step at a time.

What takeaways or best practices can you recommend to other digital publishers?

We did two things that have really helped us understand what we are dealing with.  The fact that Issuu allows for a private upload enabled us to upload dummy versions and find problems and fix them before going live.  This was, in retrospect, one of the best things we could have done.  We found mistakes and made changes to make our readers’ experience more rich and enjoyable right up to the last minute before going live.  The other thing we did and still do is link back to the magazine and share individual page links within our social media and email promotions.  Sometimes people miss things at first glance…being able to show them things in a new context is very valuable and helps build readership.