2011

Easier Access to Publisher Tools

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With our redesign of the MagCloud home page we’ve put the most important publisher tools just a few clicks away. Now when you sign-in to MagCloud you’ll immediately have access to a variety of publisher tools including  sales stats, publication drafts, promotion tools, recent orders and much more.

Your personalized home page will dynamically serve up content that is most important to you:

  • Sales Information: If you sell your publications via MagCloud, you’ll automatically see your pertinent sales stats: page views, recent sales, digital downloads, your followers and your sales earnings.
  • Publishing Tools: You’ll have easy access to your latest drafts, and one click access to promotion tools, your address book, a pricing calculator and your entire publication library.
  • Recent Purchase History: You can easily access recent order details and available digital downloads.
  • Recommendations: We’ll recommend other publications you might be interested in based on other publications and publishers you’ve shown interest in.
  • News Feature and Tips Updates: We are constantly adding new features, offering new templates and giving out design tips to make your publishing lives a little easier and you’ll be able to access the latest information directly from your home page.
So sign-in to MagCloud to check out our new home page design and let us know what you think in the comments section below.

Magazine Cover Design Inspiration

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At MagCloud, we’ve seen a lot of magazine covers and know that the cover can significantly influence the popularity of an issue. Today, we’re sharing a few online resources that can provide more “food for thought” when you’re sitting down to design the cover of your next issue.

We know our customers’ design experience and expertise ranges significantly so no matter where on the spectrum you fall, it’s best to stay updated on the latest design software and trends available to you.

Let’s dive right in. Layers Magazine is an invaluable resource for designers of all sorts. Whether you’re looking to build a better portfolio or want to know how to make your magazine cover stand out among the rest, the website offers a variety of sections with tips and tricks for getting the most out of Adobe’s design tools.

Typography arguably plays an important role for your cover. Even if your magazine is image-driven, there is still a need to spend time researching trends and case studies before thoughtfully selecting a font. Don’t know where to start? Typophile’s Typography 101 will have you weighing the pros and cons of Venetian vs. Garalde types in no time. If you get stuck or have a question about using a specific font, head on over to the forum section and ask the experts!

For help designing graphics to insert into your magazine layout, check out Abduzeedo, which has a section devoted to daily inspirations for designers. Their interview section features established photographers, graphic artists, illustrators and others that can also provide real inspiration when you’ve hit a wall with your issue. Finally, Designmoo and 365psd let you download free graphic design files and collaborate with a community of designers.

It’s also essential to stay on top of today’s trends in print design. Visit Colourlovers for the latest in color trends and Trendland for trends across all mediums. It’s truly a go-to site for every designer.

Have a favorite site, blog or resource that we didn’t mention? Share it in the comments below! And, don’t forget to share this article. Your friends and followers will thank you!

Put MagCloud to Work

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You heard that right. MagCloud can help bring your professional projects to life in print and digital. Our service is a great way to showcase your work to customers, clients, colleagues, partners etc.

Besides magazines, we’ve seen a variety of creative ways that MagCloud customers have used our service for their most demanding business needs.  So whether you are creating a portfolio for client meetings, company brochure, customer newsletter or product catalog, MagCloud will take your publication from PDF to printed magazine and digital download with just a few clicks of the mouse. Planning an event? We’ve got you covered there too. Our event planners and marketing customers have utilized MagCloud to print event souvenir programs, meeting programs, handouts and brochures. You can even publish your workshop manuals with us too.

Whatever the purpose – fun, commemorative, professional or informational – there are no boundaries to the way people are using MagCloud. Let us bring your story to life. MagCloud can help promote your company, products and services in both professional quality print format or digitally for viewing on a PC or mobile device. Whether you are ordering 1 or 1000 copies, MagCloud will ship your business documents to customers and colleagues all over the world. Visit magcloud.com/work and learn about the many ways we can help you make your next gallery exhibit, client meeting, workshop, convention and fundraising event that much better.

What other ways do you use MagCloud? Share your past, current projects and future ideas in the comment section below.

2011 MagCloud Wish List

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The MagCloud team is really excited about 2011 and has lots of great features we are considering. We believe this should be the year of choice…more ways to publish and sell, and more ways to discover and enjoy great content.

Some of the things we are considering at MagCloud Central are:

–Expanded digital distribution, offering publishers more ways to sell and distribute their magazines, and readers more ways to buy and read them.

–An easier and smarter publishing process; including faster and more forgiving PDF uploading, auto-fixing to catch and help resolve the most common PDF upload problems, as well as a simpler overall publishing process.  All of this to give publishers more time to spend creating, and less time fiddling with PDFs and uploading to the site.

–Additional print formats to offer publishers new ways to have their content stand out.

–Reader ratings and reviews, and making it easier to share magazine favorites and recommendations with the rest of the MagCloud community.

–Enhancements to the MagCloud platform to make it easier for third party developers to build their own websites and applications on top of MagCloud, and that can link directly to MagCloud’s publishing and distribution capabilities.  So no need to recreate all the heavy lifting we’ve already spent the last 2 years building.

These are just a few of the things we have in mind (some of them already work in progress!), but would love to hear which features top your 2011 MagCloud wish list.  Please let us know.

Creating Calendars Recap

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In case you missed it we had two great blog posts this week filled with tips and tricks on how to create a 2011 calendar and easily publish it on MagCloud.

Microsoft Word users download our MagCloud ready calendar templates and get step by step instructions for creating your own 2011 calendar.

Apple Pages users we have some great templates for you too, with tips on how to customize them for your specific calendar needs.

If you are looking for some inspiration there are lots of great 2011 calendars already popping up on MagCloud here are a few samples:

2011 Inspirations Calendar
The Moon Calendar 2011
Whidbey Island 2011