Sketch dummy pages in a notebook using a pencil. Plan to sketch a dummy page for each page of the magazine. A dummy page is used to work out issues with design and layout ideas. Sketching your ideas into a notebook, using boxes for advertisements, articles, sidebars and headlines, helps keep you focused when you reach the next step of layout on the computer software. It will also help you predict how long it will take to build each page in the software.
Use graphic design and layout software, such as Adobe InDesign or QuarkXPress. Use the programs' many tools and shortcuts to convert the ideas in your sketches to an electronic format. Save your work regularly.
Use images to help your article or advertisement tell its story. Layout software, such as Adobe InDesign, offers a text wrap tool that will creatively wrap the body of your article around an image.
Use a color chart to set effective background color on pages and for advertisements. According to "Smashing Magazine" writer Cameron Chapman, the use of color can affect different people in different ways. Use bright colors to capture happy and warm emotions; use dark colors to effectively capture dark emotions, such as an article or advertisement about Halloween.
Choose clean and attractive fonts. Two types of font are used in magazine publishing: text font and display font. Use text font for the body of your articles. A text type font eases the eye strain of your readers. Use display font for headlines, logos and themed feature projects that require attention-grabbing lettering.