5 tips to make a standout magazine

Transform your magazine into a tactile object readers want to reach out and touch.

As a magazine printer, we will take you through some of the need-to-know details, helpful tips and nuggets of advice for launching or improving your magazine.

For further advice on how to make a stand-out magazine, we’d love you to get in touch.

1. Don’t be afraid to reach out to your magazine printer for advice

To deliver the best value and impact for your budget, seeking out advice from your printer early on, is key. Above all, a magazine printer can provide specialist advice on; sizes, paper types, weights, different bindings and finishes. So, by asking these questions early, your ideas can be built into the design from the earliest stage, and you can avoid any unwanted surprises.

2. Make a visit and get to know the factory

Why not go and have a look around the factory and familiarise yourself with the printing process? You could review samples of other work. This will, not only develop a face-to-face relationship with your magazine printer, but also improve your overall understanding. In other words, by making an initial visit you can smooth out the process, reduce mistakes and it can help you gain an understanding of the cost implications. As a result, you can feel confident that your printers have the process controls in place to achieve the quality you seek.

3. Choose a cover to capture attention

Choose ‘a striking image’.  Your magazine printer can then push the boundaries in printing techniques to gain maximum impact.

Another way to do this is using bright or fluorescent colours, coloured, gold or silver foils to highlight key text and features.

How about printing multiple covers? This could be beneficial in selling your magazine to a wider audience. Different versions attract different readers and consequently widens the appeal of the magazine. Some printers print on a large paper size, so can print equal quantities of four covers for the same price as one.

4. Make it tactile

Tactility is vital in today’s magazine market. Often, when people are browsing magazines, they’ll run their hands over the front covers.

There are various ways to increase the tactility of your magazine, ask your magazine printer to use a foil, apply a grained finish to the cover material, use embossing or debossing, or die cutting to reveal content sitting on the first page of text.

5. Add gems for readers to find inside

One way to make the inside content stand out is to add some hidden printed gems. For example, you may want to highlight a particular long-form feature, but the large size of the magazine doesn’t fit your imagined reader experience, here are a few ideas…

Your magazine printer should be able to help with differentiating the paper stock depending on the editorial or creative angle. For instance, you can differentiate solely by finish – such as uncoated/silk/gloss or by using a coloured stock. Or, to create further differentiation you could print a particular section on a smaller page size to the rest of the magazine. Mixing stock and sizes like this adds interest to the journey of the reader.

Summary

In conclusion, there are many things you can do to transform your magazine. If you want to make a tactile object readers want to reach out and touch, we’d love you to get in touch. We’ll take you through the whole process start to finish, from initial ideas to an impactful ‘stand-out’ magazine.

As a magazine printer, Park Communications prints over 120 indie titles and actively supports and invests in the industry. Our stand #printedbypark can be seen at It’s Nice That’s Nicer Tuesdays, MagCulture’s ModMag, MagCulture Meets, Stack Live and the Stack Magazine Awards. Quite simply #welovemagazines