How To Set Up A Magazine In Indesign

In this quick and simple tutorial, you lot'll acquire how to create a professional magazine layout in Adobe InDesign, complete with a print-set up spread, stylish typography, and an centre-communicable prototype.

This is a great introductory tutorial to creating a magazine layout blueprint—you'll choice upward essential techniques for creating effective magazine templates and magazine page layouts.

Looking for more than magazine templates? You can find more stylish InDesign magazine templates on Envato Elements and GraphicRiver.

Short on Fourth dimension?

If you're looking for a quick set up, a mag template is a great option for getting started on your magazine layout pattern with confidence.

You lot tin can find a huge collection of stylish mag layout templates on Envato Elements.

With a diverse range of layouts and more than pattern assets available to download for a single, affordable monthly fee, it'south a great manner to rapidly get started on your project. Discover a few of our favourites below.

Skip alee for the total magazine layout tutorial.

1. Fashion Magazine Template

2. Minimal Mag Template

Minimal Magazine template — Minimal magazine template

3. Architecture Mag Template

Architecture Magazine — Architecture mag template

4. Universal Magazine Template

Lemo Magazine — 'Lemo' universal mag template

5. Elegant Mag Template

Tutorial: How to Create a Magazine Layout in InDesign

In this quick tutorial, we'll put together a simple magazine folio layout in InDesign. Hands adaptable to your ain images and text content, this is a great all-circular introduction to magazine design for beginners.

What Yous'll Demand to Create Your Mag Layout

Also as access to Adobe InDesign, you'll likewise need a high-resolution image to apply in your design. The image used in the blueprint as pictured is this one, but you can find a range of alternative images on the Envato Elements photo library.

You lot'll also demand some stylish fonts to use on your mag layout. Minimal sans serif styles are particularly effective in mag pattern. Await to this pick of sans serif fonts to find your perfect font match.

Once you have an prototype to hand and have installed the font files on your computer, y'all're ready to go started!

one. How to Set Upwardly Your Magazine Layout in InDesign

Step 1

Open InDesign and get to File > New > Document.

We'll exist using a standard A4 size document for this tutorial. Commencement past setting the number of Pages to 8, the Bleed to 2 mm so we have some space for images to overlap, the Top and Bottom Margins to 10 mm, the Inside Margin to xiii mm, and the Outside Margin to 20 mm*.

Then click OK or Create.

* The reason for these different margins is that in a spread with ii facing pages, a slightly larger margin on the outside of the page looks better and provides more space to hold the printed version. It is besides useful for the page filigree in the next step.

Step ii

Pro tip: A filigree is used to promote consistency across the page layout and provide a framework for positioning content. A well-applied grid is the first thing you lot need to give your layout a professional look.

To set the page grid, go to the "A-master spread" and choose Layout > Create Guides.

For this tutorial, we're going to apply a 12 rows by 12 columns filigree with 3 mm spacing. Choose Fit Guides to Margins to create a grid with a column width of 12 mm*.

* Why? Our page width is 210 mm, with 20 mm outside and thirteen mm inside margins, and so we have 177 mm left for 12 columns and xi gutters. 12 columns of 12 mm plus 11 gutters of 3 mm is 177 mm.

2. How to Identify an Image on Your Magazine Layout

When creating a magazine layout, you'll want to go on a good balance betwixt the white infinite, images, and text. A skilful technique is to use an paradigm with a lot of 'empty' ('white') space; infinite around the subject has the same function as white space.

I'grand using a photograph chosen Summertime Sunshine—information technology has a nicely blurred background that we can identify our text on top of.

Go to Pages ii–iii of your certificate and use the Rectangle Frame Tool (F) to create an image frame beyond the whole spread, extending the edges upwards to the bleed on all sides.

File > Place your chosen image into the frame and allow it to fill the whole frame. Yous can double-click inside the frame to direct select the photo and movement the image and so that the subject area is within the margin of the beginning page and the peak of the cocktail glass is at the edge of a grid row.

3. How to Add Torso Text and Create a Grid on Your Layout

Step 1

Use the Type Tool (T) to create a text frame that is placed at the aforementioned vertical and horizontal position as the cocktail on the other folio, hither in the 3rd row and 5th column of the filigree.

This creates an imaginary line that connects the image with the text. If yous don't have text content for your body text frame yet, caput upwards to Type > Make full with Placeholder Text.

I'm going to use the title of the photograph, 'Summertime Sunshine', as the heading, which you can place into a separate text frame in a higher place the body text frame.

Step 2

To make our text await actually professional, we demand to prepare a baseline grid. Go to Preferences > Grids and gear up the Increment Every value to 8 pt.

In this tutorial, we'll exist using a text size of 12 pt and leading of sixteen pt. A baseline grid of 8 pt, which is half of the leading value, provides flexibility because nosotros can besides utilise information technology for smaller text sizes.

4. How to Format the Typography on Your Mag Layout

Step ane

Get to Window > Styles > Paragraph Styles. Double-click on the default Basic Paragraph style in the panel to open the Paragraph Style Options.

For the Font, I've chosen FF Meta Book Roman with a Size of 12 pt andLeading of 16 pt. You could also cull to leave the Leading at its default setting because our baseline grid will make sure all the text is nicely aligned.

Step 2

Click on Indents and Spacing in the window's left-mitt menu.

Set up the Alignment to Left Justify. In digital design, professional-looking justified text is almost impossible to reach, only InDesign makes information technology very easy to do.

Change the Align to Grid setting to All Lines, and add together sixteen pt in the Space After box. This is not essential, and you can also use Beginning Line Indent to separate the paragraphs.

Pace 3

Pro tip: Hyphenation is very important when working with justified text. Hyphenation breaks up long words at the cease of a cavalcade so that the column has a straight edge instead of containing a large number of gaps. The default hyphenation settings in InDesign need a little adjusting to improve the look of our body text.

Click on Hyphenationin the window'due south left-hand menu.

I'm changing the settings to apply hyphenation just for words with at least six messages, and after the first and before the last three letters. For Words with at Least, enter a value of vi, and for After Offset, type in 3.

The Hyphen Limit sets how many lines in a row can have a hyphen on the cease. I think 3 is likewise many. Type in ane.

Finally, uncheck the boxes for Capitalized Words and Terminal Word.

Step 4

By default, the justification settings are a little likewise loose, so permit's adjust these past clicking on Justification in the left-hand menu.

Set the Give-and-take Spacing to a Minimum of 85% and a Maximum of 105%. This ensures that the words won't take too large or besides small gaps between them.

For theLetter Spacing, set the minimum to -2% and the maximum to 2%. This will significantly meliorate the expect of the justification. Yous can experiment with the Glyph Scaling settings as well, if required.

Step v

Click onCharacter Colorin the window'southward left-hand carte.

I'm using [Newspaper] for the Character Colour to permit the text to dissimilarity against the nighttime background of the photograph. Choose what you recollect looks best given your own choice of image—aim to continue the text contrasting and highly legible.

Click OK to exit the Paragraph Style Options window.

Footstep 6

On the body text frame, Right-Click > Text Frame Options. Change the Number of Columns to two and add together a 3 mm Gutter. This ensures that the line length is reduced and the readability will be improved.

Footstep 7

Select the heading text frame on your mag layout. Then double-click on the default Bones Paragraph style in the Paragraph Style panel to open up theParagraph Style Options.

Adjust the Font to your preference, and prepare the text to a generous size. Here, I've opted for Meta Medium Roman, Size 42 pt,and applied a negative Tracking value of -fifty to decrease the spacing betwixt the letters.

Because they are highly visible, headlines tin can ofttimes benefit from tracking adjustment.

Step eight

From InDesign versions CS5 onwards, it is possible to make a paragraph span across columns.

We're going to employ that office here to brand the heading span across both columns of the text frame. Click on Span Columns in the window'due south left-hand menu. Fix the Paragraph Layout to Span Columns and Span to All.

Pace 9

Because we have adjusted the tracking to a negative value, the letters "r" and "t" in the heading are now touching each other. This is something you want to avoid in general.

To solve this, I set my Type Tool cursor betwixt the two letters and, from the top Controls panel, conform the Kerning to 75. This creates just enough space to separate them.

Step x

Pro Tip: A small-scale and subtle adjustment, called optical margin alignment, can give the typography in your magazine layout a final polished and professional look. This pushes whatever outlying hyphens, quotation marks and wide ligatures such equally the arms of a 'Due west' or 'A' outside of the text frame, creating a more streamlined, pleasing await to the whole block of text.

Become to Window > Type & Tables > Story.

Click to select the torso text frame, before checking the Optical Margin Alignment option in the Story panel. Gear up the value below to lucifer the Font Size of your body text.

Determination: Your Finished Mag Template

Your magazine layout design is finished—great work! You've created a simple and well-balanced spread, complete with professional typography and effective use of white space.

Y'all now take a foundation for expanding your design into a complete magazine template, using this first spread to create a consistent style beyond other pages. Simply Edit > Copy and Edit > Paste in Place the elements you've created in this spread onto others.

In this tutorial, nosotros've covered a wide range of print design techniques for creating a stylish and effective mag layout. Y'all now know how to:

Set up a magazine layout in InDesign, and apply a grid, columns, and margins.
Place an image into your magazine layout pattern.
Format body text and headers to a high standard.
Use sophisticated typographic techniques to your mag layout design, including optical margin alignment.

Looking for a time-saving solution for creating your own unique mag design? Make sure to check out the huge range of easy-to-conform magazine templates over on Envato Elements and GraphicRiver.

Discover more magazine design tutorials to keep developing your print blueprint and typography skills: