Your magazine content. Your pride and joy.  Written over hours by you and maybe many others.  Your content needs to be structured and planned so that we can turn it into magazine greatness relating to your readers and giving your advertisers the return on investment they are looking for.  Images and advertisements need preparation to get the right impact so let make sure that all will print correctly and without any font issues or colour variations.

So where do you start to get your magazine content designed right first time?

1. Plan your timelines and production schedule.  Work backwards.  It may seem daft but if you know when you need to get the magazine to its final destination then you can find out when the printers will need the print ready artwork.  This will lead to you talking to the magazine designers to get the ball rolling and the plan for when they need the copy and the imagery to get your magazine laid out. Once you know the turnaround times for the magazine designers then you can ask for all the content and advertisements to be submitted by a certain date.

2. Get your page layouts sorted.  Your page layouts are the place to get to grips with where articles go make good use of the space and place preferential advertisers first.  work you copy and imagery into the spaces around the advertisers and make sure related copy goes with related advertisers.  But be mindful of putting two plumbers or two clothing adverts next to each other unless it’s a directory of listings.

3. Give feedback.  All the way through the magazine designing process you need to communicate with your designer about what you like and what you don’t.  It is better for all if this is done during the process not at the end as a round up of ‘things to fix’.  As the content space planning needs to be done dynamically and your changes may cause a ripple effect throughout your design.

4. Proofing.  It is best to send the copy already proof read and all grammatical errors amended before submitting to your magazine designer.  Once happy with your text.  Marry up your imagery (unless its our job to get them sorted). This will give you some clarity and vision on the brief for your magazine designer.  As you are now happy with your copy you can focus on the proofing of the layout and images make sure that the flow of the articles works and your reader know where to look to get the right information.

Once all signed off your magazine content should be good to go.  Your content is all important to get tone of voice, and engagement right for your readership so make sure you get the right articles and filter out the wrong kind of contributors they may put readers off.

If you need any further help with your magazine content then we would love to hear from you.  Either fill in an enquiry form or pick up the phone today.