Magazine DIY

Putting together a magazine is a great way to share your vision in print. You can make a handmade magazine, or use computer software to design and print a professional-quality magazine.Printed on demand magazines are simple to design and easy to update as youd like. And making them is so affordable you can order as many as you want. Think eye-catching portfolios, elegant product catalogs, your very own monthly publication, magazines make great leave-behinds and promotional pieces that wont make a big dent in your budget.

The cover of your magazine should give readers a tantalizing taste of everything that's inside, without giving away too much. Here are some ways to accomplish that, Make sure your magazine's title is prominent. Though many magazines will change the color of their title from issue to issue, the font is almost always the same. Settle on one that's easy to read, recognizable, and has an aesthetic that matches your content.
Most magazines put this at the top of the cover, in order to make the brand prominent. For some interesting examples of how you can play with the interplay between the title and what's on your cover, look up cover images for Harper's Bazaar. Decide what's going to be on the cover for this issue. Fashion magazines often use cover models, while gossip magazines use paparazzi or staged photos, and news magazines might use portraits. Whatever image you use, it should look compelling and be connected to your magazine's main story.

What is the primary topic of your magazine? Keep in mind that most magazines are niche publications that target a highly-specific audience (for instance, people who are interested in quilting or brides looking for wedding ideas). Ask yourself: Will this be a standalone publication or one in a series? If its part of a series, whats your larger theme? Try to draw the title of your magazine out of this overarching theme. Note that most magazines have one- or two-word titles (such as TIME, National Geographic, Seventeen, Rolling Stone, and Forbes). Not only can a short title sum up your theme nicely, it's also easier to deal with from a design standpoint. Whats the focus of this one publication? How can you use it to tie all your content together? (Its not for nothing that a single publication of a magazine is called an “issue.”)
A good example of themed issues are the prom editions of teen magazines, or the Swimsuit Issue of Sports Illustrated. All of the content inside that issue ties back to the primary focus.

Some people say that the magazine is a dead art form. It isn't, people still very much enjoy the pleasure of reading the magazine format. What matters more is the topic, some magazine topics are less interesting to readers than others, so be sure to do your research first. Moreover, some topics might do better digitally than in print, and vice versa. Again, do thorough research before deciding which to choose.