30 Magazine Design & Layout Ideas to Spark Your Creativity (2024)

Thanks to the internet, it’s easier than ever design a beautiful digital or print magazine. No matter your niche, there are plenty of layouts and brand templates that can help get you started. In this resource, we’ll take you through some of our favorite magazine design and layout ideas to help you put your own special touch on your creation.

How to design a magazine layout

There are four core graphic design principles that will ultimately help guide your magazine layout design.

  1. Hierarchy— How people read or consume the information, i.e., what’s most important? What are the key takeaways here? And how do you showcase that? You want this information to be visible right out the gate.
  2. Purpose— Why should your audience care about reading this? What’s the point of your magazine? Is it something that needs to be communicated visually or through words?
  3. Readability— How easy is your magazine to read and understand? Are you pairing poetry with images, or are you articulating EOY program goals for a non-profit? Either way, your choice in communication and end goal needs to be clear.
  4. Balance—Chaos can be art, but it’s not always beautiful or helpful when it comes to graphic design. You want to strike a balance between cluttered and sparse.
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Image fromYes I’m a Designer, by Kevin Fay

In the image above, you’ll see various callouts for certain design elements — keep in mind, each of the design elements serve a specific purpose, whether it’s to help break up a wall of text, or illustrate a point with images.

Now, let’s dive into some more magazine design and layout examples!

Magazine design inspiration

If you want to create a sharp, eye-catching magazine that balances important information about your brand with spot-on graphic design, we’ve got plenty of inspiration for you.

1. Adventure Digital Magazine

If your magazine features immersive photography, your magazine design and layout should give more weight to imagery than words. The layout of this Adventure digital magazine template will help you put your photos front and center while balancing them with sections of text. And, as a digital magazine, this template gives you the bonus option of scrolling text, meaning you can include long-form content without taking space away from imagery.

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2. Aficionado e-Magazine

Traditional publications tend to avoid using a horizontal magazine layout because it can be unwieldy to (physically) hold. But as tablets and e-readers become more common, we’ve noticed that designers are revisiting the concept. This Aficionado e-magazine template is a great jumping-off point for magazine design inspiration, and offers some great ideas for orienting pages horizontally. For instance — the columns alone offer a variety of graphic design capabilities:

  • Split the page in half
  • Be weighted more towards one side
  • Skipped altogether in favor of rich photography and breathable white space
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3. Azure Magazine

What’s great about the Azure magazine design and layout is how well it lends itself to color customization. Thanks to its blocky columns and bold fonts, it would be easy to read with a variety of color combos (but don’t forget to choose high contrast colors for text and backgrounds). For brands with strong, recognizeable color palettes, it’s an excellent candidate.

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4. Connoisseur Food Magazine

What stands out in the Connoisseur food magazine layout is its use of colorful sectioning. You can customize just about anything — from a single column surrounded by photography to three narrow columns side-by-side. Plus, this layout works vertically or horizontally, so you get multiple options in one delicious template.

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5. Introspective Digital Magazine

Never underestimate the power of the “less is more” design approach. The Introspective magazine design makes the most of negative space and contrast to leave a strong impression. And because it’s digital, scrolling text and rich media (like video) can be included.

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6. Money Fake Magazine Cover

Have you ever wondered what it feels like to be on the cover of a magazine? The Money fake magazine design and layout template gives you the perfect chance to do so! We all know the formula: a large portrait situated front and center with a masthead underneath, surrounded by intriguing teasers for the articles inside. This template even includes little details like date and issue number, as well as a UPC code at the bottom.

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7. New Yorker Business Magazine

The New Yorker business magazine layout is primarily black and white, but it adds a pop of vibrant red for powerful emphasis. Its thin font and art-deco touches set it apart from the monochrome intensity of the Introspective layout in #5. Note the expansive cushions of white space, especially in the single-column layout, which features scrolling text with a single quote spotlighted on either side.

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8. On the Road Magazine

There are several things to love about the On the Road magazine template. First, the white border offers the option to frame your content in a somewhat nostalgic way. Or, if that’s not to your taste, check out how one page cuts two photos together with no border at all. With plenty of choices, there’s enough here to spark anyone’s imagination.

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9. Open Air Online Magazine

True to its name, the Open air online magazine layout leaves plenty of room for airy background photos. Adding transparency to the content blocks and bringing them in from the margins a little bit provides a cool sense of depth. It’s a neat visual trick that works especially well with scrolling columns, a design advantage unique to digital magazine layouts.

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10. Seasons Digital Magazine

Who says digital layouts have to look amateur? With this template, it’s easy to craft elegant, sophisticated content that still feels like it belongs on a screen. The juxtaposition of serif copy with sans-serif headlines creates a stylistic identity that’s both traditional and modern — a comfortable in-between place for those of us who grew up with the rise of the internet.

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11. Showcase Travel Magazine

The Showcase travel magazine design and layout is designed for readability above all else. There’s a clear division between pages dedicated to photography and pages dedicated to copy. For a travel magazine, this is a wise choice, helping create immersive visual and narrative stories.

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12. Trendsetter Fashion Magazine

Like in art, sometimes the best designs are those that purposefully ignore the rules. A look at the Trendsetter fashion magazine layout illustrates several possibilities here. If your magazine explores the avant-garde, it’s worth considering how unique font and color choices can convey your brand’s unique position.

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13. Tropic Magazine Cover

Sometimes, following a familiar formula is the perfect way to entice readers in. This Tropic magazine cover exemplifies a typical layout in a simple and well-balanced way. It’s easy to succumb to clutter (looking at you every website from 1999), but this layout uses a minimal design that still includes the necessities — the title, the headlining article, two featured pieces and photography.

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14. Urban Print Magazine

Like a newspaper, the Urban print magazine layout divides itself into many columns, presenting dense and information-rich content for readers to scan or consume at their own pace. If you’ve struggled with creating readable layouts that feature multiple columns, this layout offers a wealth of examples.

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15. Simple car magazine

This simple and clean car magazine template provides the perfect cover layout to show off a classic car. When you’ve got eye candy like this, minimalism can make the most visual impact.

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16. Science magazine

When you need a data-forward approach for your magazine layout, our free science magazine template will get the job done. A clean and clear layout leaves plenty of space for long articles and in-depth figures.

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17. Bridal magazine

A simple magazine layout combined with classic photography lets your brand’s wedding inspiration shine. With subdued colors, inspirational photos, and plenty of room for copy, this multi-page wedding mag template has everything you need.

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18. University magazine

Keep students, faculty, and alumni up to date on everything new at your school with this bold and classic magazine layout design. Need to run school news, announcements, and ads? You can pack it all into this straightforward template.

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19. Food magazine

Images do all the talking in this elegantly designed food magazine layout. There’s ample room to highlight your brand’s culinary creations, with clean text callouts doing the supporting work.

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20. Minimal fashion magazine

If you need a clean and simple fashion magazine layout design, this template will help you show off your company’s looks without any of the visual clutter.

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21. Dessert magazine

Put your ‘mmm’-worthy creations front and center with this brightly colored desert magazine layout. Close-up photos and fun fonts create a mouth-watering magazine template.

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22. Teen magazine cover

A bright photo collage creates a teen magazine cover layout that’s bound to catch plenty of eyes. With bold graphics and a Y2K nostalgic touch, this design offers a familiar but fresh take on the genre.

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23. Men’s fashion magazine

This men’s fashion magazine layout doesn’t shy away from the details. A well-defined balance between images and copy helps your brand show its best side.

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24. Fake Vogue cover

When only a fake Vogue cover will do, try this template. Pop in your preferred photo and let the classic magazine cover template do the rest.

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25. Wedding magazine

It’s easy to get lost in the details of this dreamy bridal magazine layout. Soft colors juxtaposed against calming sections of text let your customers peruse beautiful wedding inspo at their leisure.

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26. Elementary school magazine

Easily toss your school updates into this bright, fun elementary magazine layout. A balanced combination of photos and longer and shorter sections for text ensures readers of all ages can easily navigate your school news.

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27. Seasons magazine

Want to show off your brand’s appreciation for the natural world? Give this Seasons physical magazine template a chance. Showcase nature in all her glory with beautiful, detailed photos and unobtrusive spaces for immersive articles.

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28. Art school magazine

Bold sans-serif headings and bright colors showcase your art school offerings in this educational magazine layout. There’s plenty of room for the nitty-gritty details, along with space for larger text call outs and lifestyle photography.

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29. Surf magazine cover

Your action shot goes front-and-center in our surf magazine cover layout. A color-blocked section for your title and clear sans-serif headlines round out this tried-and-true cover design.

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30. Performance car magazine

When you need to show off what a beautiful piece of machinery can do, this performance car magazine layout is a go-to. With lots of space for ads, articles, and glamor shots, the simple, masculine layout gets the job done.

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Creating your own magazine design and layout can feel like an intimidating task, but with templates like these, it becomes a breeze. Don’t be afraid to mix and match elements from more than one template to create something truly unique!
Ready to start designing your own magazine? Get a head start in our gallery for .

30 Magazine Design & Layout Ideas to Spark Your Creativity (2024)

FAQs

What are the 10 key elements of a magazine layout design? ›

If you are planning to publish a magazine design layout for you or your client's business then you will need to understand the contents of this article.
  • Headline. ...
  • An introductory paragraph. ...
  • Body / Body Text / Body Copy. ...
  • Subheadline / subheading. ...
  • Pull Quotes. ...
  • Captions for Images. ...
  • Section head or running head. ...
  • Box copy.
Jun 30, 2021

How can I make my magazine more creative? ›

A Great Magazine In 7 Simple Steps
  1. KNOW YOUR READERS INSIDE AND OUT. ...
  2. GIVE YOUR MAGAZINE A PERSONALITY. ...
  3. CONTENT TRUMPS DESIGN EVERY TIME. ...
  4. AUTHORITY. ...
  5. A BLEND OF CONTENT EXPERIENCES. ...
  6. KEEP THE EDITORIAL EXPERIENCE FRESH BUT FAMILIAR. ...
  7. ENCOURAGE COLLABORATION BETWEEN WRITERS AND DESIGNERS.
Jul 21, 2020

What is magazine layout and design? ›

Magazine layout is about creating a harmonious relationship between text, images, and white space. If you use a graphic design tool such as CorelDRAW, you'll find it simple to drag and drop elements into place and make edits as necessary.

What makes a successful magazine layout? ›

Images should balance each other without too many elements clouding them. In order to create consistency in the design of the magazine, the symmetry between images should also be considered. If images are asymmetrical, they should still be balanced along with other images so as not to break the harmony in the layout.

What are the 5 basic principles of layout and composition? ›

Watch to learn about five layout principles: proximity, white space, alignment, contrast and repetition. Need a refresher on design fundamentals?

How can I make my magazine more interactive? ›

Dynamic navigation features

Navigation is the key to engaging your audience. Intuitive navigation design is a must. It allows readers to navigate your magazine with ease. Your interactive magazine should incorporate different navigation options according to the reader's device.

What makes a magazine engaging? ›

Key elements include compelling content, attractive and consistent design, high-quality visuals, engaging storytelling, and a clear understanding of the target audience. How important is the cover design in making a magazine engaging? The cover design is crucial as it's the first point of interaction with readers.

What makes a good magazine feature? ›

Tells you something new and unexpected, or takes a totally fresh new look at something familiar. 5. Has compelling anecdotes that illustrate specific points, but do so with some subtlety so the reader will not feel beaten upside the head. 6.

What makes a magazine unique? ›

Each magazine has a unique mission and vision, target audience and subject matter focus — not to mention its own pool of contributors, publication process and methods for attracting readers.

How to make a magazine cohesive? ›

To create a cohesive layout, you need to use a grid system, a typographic hierarchy, a color scheme, and visual elements such as images, graphics, icons, and illustrations. These elements should complement your content and enhance your magazine's readability and aesthetics.

How to make a creative magazine? ›

If you're inspired to make your own magazine, you're likely familiar with the following steps—but let's review them anyway.
  1. Designing your masthead. Your magazine's 'brand' is defined by its masthead. ...
  2. Writing articles. ...
  3. Editing. ...
  4. Proofreading. ...
  5. Graphic Design. ...
  6. Photography. ...
  7. Build out your back page. ...
  8. Make a prototype.

How to make a magazine more interesting? ›

Make sure it's an engaging teaser of what lies inside.
  1. Make a statement and engage your reader.
  2. Let your photography speak for itself.
  3. Define your tone of voice and maintain it.
  4. Guide your reader with a clear and useful content page.
  5. Consistency is key but avoid complacency.
Jan 15, 2024

What are the qualities of a good magazine? ›

Characteristics of magazines

A popular magazine which caters to the general public uses non-technical language. The contents of these magazines include interviews, general interest articles and various types of features. They usually cover a wide range of topics based on research, source comments and generalizations.

What are the elements of a magazine cover design? ›

What are the key elements to consider when designing a magazine cover? The key elements to consider when designing a magazine cover include its masthead, issue, dateline, main Image, lead article line, supporting cover lines, and bar code.

What are the basic element of layout and design? ›

7 Elements of Design and Rule of Thirds

Design elements are the basic units of any visual design which form its structure and convey visual messages. The elements of design are line, shape, form, space, texture, tone (or value) and color, "These elements are the materials from which all designs are built."

What are the main structure of a magazine? ›

Magazines have structure

In print publishing parlance, you'll find these parts of a magazine: Cover pages. Front-of-book content, which may include columns (including an editorial), letters to the editor, news, quick-hit trend pieces and publisher-focused content.

What are the visual elements of a magazine? ›

As a recap, the main elements for a head-turning magazine layout are the headlines, images, subheadings, body copy, cover design, as well as featured advertisements. When all these pivotal components are synced together in the right balance, it results in a cohesive and coherent magazine spread.

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