How to Design a Magazine for an End of Year School Project
- 1). Create the magazine cover. Covers usually include a background image and headlines placed around the image. Select large font sizes and text colors that contrast with the background for readability. For example, do not use light-colored text on a light-colored background.
- 2). Write the headlines for the magazine cover. If your magazine contains an article about treating acne, the headline might read, "Don't know how to get rid of acne? Find out inside". An article on nutrition may feature a cover headline such as, "Why Pizza is bad for Breakfast". The headline should intrigue the reader and draw him into opening and reading the magazine.
- 3). Give columns of text a justified alignment for a cleaner appearance in your word processing program. Do not cover the entire page with text, but do not leave pages almost entirely blank, either. Keep a balance between "white space," blank space on the page, and images and text. Use another magazine as a guide for reference.
- 4). Vary the layout of your pages to avoid boring readers. You may place a headline on the left page of a spread for one particular article, while the headline may be centered at the top of a single page for another article. Some articles may be laid out with pictures at the top of the page, while a picture may occupy an entire page in a multi-page spread.
- 5). Create advertisements to include in the magazine, if desired. The advertisements should be of interest to the magazine's audience. Readers likely would not encounter a car advertisement in a magazine about teenage health and beauty, for example. However, readers of such a magazine would find advertisements for diet products, clothing, cosmetics and hair products.
- 6). Assemble the magazine in a logical fashion. The front cover goes first, followed by content such as advertisements and a table of contents which may include the headlines, synopses and page numbers of all of the articles. Assemble articles in the order indicated in your table of contents.
- 7). Create the back cover for your magazine. The back cover may simply be the rest of the image from the front cover, along with copyright information in small print at the very bottom of the page. It could also contain publication history about your magazine, or it could be an advertisement.
