How to Design a Magazine Cover in 2024

Does your cover successfully communicate your magazine’s personality? A successful magazine cover is crucial for communicating the overall vibe of your brand. A potential reader should know what your magazine covers just by glancing at its cover. So, if you’re in the magazine business, you need sensational covers that attract and ultimately increase your readership and subscription. An impactful magazine cover includes many crucial elements. It’s a real challenge to make them work together cohesively. 

This blog post will break down each element that makes up a successful magazine cover. We’ll discuss some of the elements of a magazine cover and the best practices on how to design a magazine cover in depth. I’ll also share a lot of awesome magazine cover templates from our library that will help you sell your magazine like crazy!

What should a Magazine Cover include

Let’s discuss the essential elements and features of a magazine cover that you must know about magazine cover design.

Masthead

Master Head, or masthead, is the publication’s name. It’s the most crucial and consistent element throughout your publication’s issues. It’s best to start your Magazine Cover design with the masthead. For your masthead to pop up, pay attention to its color. You can tweak it according to your issue’s central theme or image.

Issue and Dateline

The next crucial magazine cover elements include your publication’s date, month, year, and issue number. Some magazines break down the issue into Issue X and Volume Y.  The volume indicates the number of years your magazine has been in existence. The Issue specifies the number of times you’ve published it during the specific year.

For example, the Travel Magazine Cover Template below shows a magazine that has been in circulation for 22 years. This specific issue was published in November 2028, the eleventh month.

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Additionally, if you want, you can also add the price here.

Main Image

The main image is the element that covers the major area on your magazine cover. It’s representative of what the issue is all about. The picture you use in your magazine cover must draw people’s attention and increase their curiosity about what’s inside. Improve your chances of selling more by always using high-quality professional images that stand out from the others.

Lead Article Line

The issue’s central theme is your lead article line. To emphasize it, use a slightly different font that aligns with the theme. You can also choose a color(s) that complements the central imagery so that it stands out well.

Supporting Cover Lines

The supporting cover lines are topics other than the lead article line, which may or may not revolve around the same central theme. Choose words in your supporting cover lines that will draw potential readers in. Keep it concise and at most ten words. Compared to the lead article line, these have smaller font sizes.

Bar Code

The printing house takes care of the barcodes. Still, it is best to leave a little space for them when designing the cover.

Tips and Best Practices to Help You Design a Magazine Cover

Incorporate the non-negotiable elements of magazine cover and follow the best practices while designing one to drive your sales.

Highlight the Magazine Name

Start your magazine cover design by placing its title in the most obvious place. Most of the biggest magazine publications put it in the center of the cover. Your masthead will have the largest font you’ll use in the magazine cover design to make it the most prominent element.

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Use Magazine Cover Layouts and Grids

It’ll make a wrong impression on potential readers if the magazine cover doesn’t have a proper layout or structure. Grids and layouts help you align and organize your design elements. It’ll make your magazine cover look neat, professional, and more attractive.

DocHipo’s templates already balance out all the design elements within it. So your work boils down to choosing a template and tweaking it to suit your needs.

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If you want to change any element’s placement using DocHipo grids, here you go!

Emphasize Powerful Words

You can use powerful words in your subheadings to trigger a potential reader’s curiosity. The words to instantly catch attention may include but are not limited to “Exclusive,” “Free,” “Gifts,” etc. Using these kinds of words increases the chances of your magazine cover selling itself. Use colors to highlight them.

For example, in the Fashion Magazine Cover Template, the word ‘Exclusive’ is written in white font above the contrasting black background to highlight it.

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Choose the Right Font and Styles

Your font may transform a dull layout into a dramatic one! It can also create and establish a style of your own. Consider your brand personality, the theme of the magazine issue, legibility, and readability. Then, start exploring and analyzing font pairs.

To emphasize certain elements and balance out your magazine cover design:

• Combine different font styles like bolder with thinner, serifs with sans serifs
• Work with different font sizes to create a typography hierarchy
• Choose different font colors

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Check out How to Choose Fonts for Your Design for guidance.

Meaningful and Attractive Typography

Typography plays a crucial role in your magazine cover design. It brings the text to life and induces certain emotions depending on the issue’s theme. So, work on the structure, appearance, font style, etc., to attract and hold the reader’s attention.

Look at our DocHipo Templates for some stunning magazine cover ideas.

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Choose a Captivating Picture and Background

An image takes up the major area of your magazine cover layout. So, it would be best if you carefully choose the right one. Choose the image that best reflects your magazine’s content.

Portraits with eye contact work like a charm in getting the potential reader’s attention. It makes a connection on a deeper level. Depending on your budget, you can hire models and invest in professional photographers if you publish fashion magazines. 

For instance, look at the Fashion Magazine Cover Template below. You can’t deny how gorgeous the cover looks with the mind-blowing photograph of a lady making eye contact.

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Otherwise, you can use stock images from our DocHipo library.

If your magazine is about travel and wildlife, pick a visually appealing image that makes people want to pack their bags immediately.

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You can always enhance images to add to the beauty of the magazine cover’s main image.

Create a stunning background that is transparent or solid color, making the photo and the text stand out. For example, the adorable toddler’s picture stands out well in the solid-color background.

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In DocHipo, you can remove picture background in just one click to create a lasting impression.

Choose the Appropriate Color and Contrast

The text color will affect your magazine’s tone and overall mood. Once you finalize the magazine cover image, look for colors that pop up on that image. For your masthead, you can choose your brand color and tweak it to align with the imagery you use.

For example, in the Kid’s Magazine Cover Template, our designers used two colors that make the masthead pop up on the background.

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Next, observe the role of contrasting black and white colors in making the magazine design beautiful and elegant. A slight touch of yellow as a pop-up color adds to the fresh and unique look.

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You should always maintain the readability of your text. So, it’s a best practice to use dark-colored fonts on light backgrounds and vice versa.

For example, look at the following Fashion and Travel Magazine Cover Templates.

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You can also rock the monochromatic color scheme like the shades of purple in the Fashion Magazine Cover Template below.

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Here’s how to choose colors and backgrounds in DocHipo.

Avoid Busy Backgrounds

Don’t be tempted to fill the cover design when it is unnecessary. Otherwise, it’ll look like a mess. Keep enough space, providing your magazine cover design room to breathe. Brilliant use of whitespace looks attractive as it’s neat, clean, and elegant.

For example, look at the simple magazine cover templates. 

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Maintain Brand Consistency 

If you’re new to the magazine industry, you must maintain consistency in each issue you publish. Be consistent with your color scheme, fonts, etc., throughout your communication channels, like social media platforms. This way, your branding will remain intact. Over time, you’ll also become a well-known, loved brand in your niche by leveraging consistency. Utilize DocHipo’s brand kit to create on-brand designs consistently.

Here’s how DocHipo helps you easily achieve brand consistency with brand kits.

How to Design a Magazine Cover in DocHipo

In three simple steps, we’ll discuss how you can design a magazine cover with DocHipo’s Free Online Magazine Cover Maker.

STEP 1:  Choose a Magazine Cover Template

Templates are super helpful as they set a rock-solid foundation where designers have already taken care of the perfect balance between each design element used. The Magazine Cover Templates in our DocHipo library cover a variety of use cases.

You can start with any template that suits your purpose and matches your brand style.

Watch our video on free magazine cover templates and how you can best use them.

You can also explore all our templates for magazines, as we keep adding them to the library. I’m sure you’ll love them all.

STEP 2:  Customize Your Chosen Magazine Cover Template

You can customize each template with a few clicks using the drag-and-drop tool. Our editor gives you access to high-quality stock images, illustrations, icons, fonts, photo editor, etc. You can change your magazine content like a masthead, lead article, supporting cover lines, date, etc., representative images, colors, and almost anything you desire. Check out our Guide to Using the DocHipo Editor to Design Your Documents.

Here’s how to customize a template within minutes in DocHipo.

STEP 3:  Download Your Magazine Cover Design

When you’re satisfied with your magazine cover design, you can download it in interactive PDF format or share it directly on your social media channels.

Here’s how you download your design in DocHipo.

You can always refer to the following quick tutorial on designing a magazine cover in DocHipo.

Get Started on Your Magazine Cover Design

I hope you enjoyed reading this guide on designing a magazine cover. We’ve discussed the crucial parts of a magazine cover and shared plenty of creative cover ideas for your inspiration. Hopefully, you liked them. Sign-up to DocHipo and choose from our eye-catching Magazine Cover templates that best suit your needs. Follow the tips and best practices discussed above and design a magazine cover that best reflects your magazine’s content. Let your creativity flow within the boundaries of your brand guidelines with the help of our design assets. Let DocHipo’s Online Magazine Maker be your helping hand to make your magazine cover shine and sell itself.

FAQs

How do you design a magazine layout?

Clarify your magazine’s purpose and how you can best express it. Ensure that each element in your magazine cover design looks interesting and serves a purpose. Choose a layout that lets you incorporate all the crucial text elements and main images with proper alignment, establish hierarchy, and accommodate ample whitespace. Experiment with your layout to analyze how it impacts how people move through your magazine’s front page cover.

What is the size of magazine?

The standard size of magazine is 5.5” x 8.5” and 8.5” x 11”.

What is the 5 parts of magazine?

The five parts of a magazine cover include its cover page, masthead,  table of contents, advertisements displayed in various placements, and featured articles.

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. 

How do you choose a visually appealing color scheme for a magazine cover design?

For a magazine cover design, choose a color scheme that appeals to your target readers and aligns with your brand and the content you publish.

How to target audience when designing a magazine cover?

You may research your competitor’s readership demographics, conduct surveys, and interact with them on social media channels to gain insights into their interests and preferences. Before designing your magazine cover, find crucial demographic data such as age, location, etc, and dig deeper into their psychographics to understand their aspirations, thoughts, values, and pain points. These will help you tailor your magazine cover design to speak to your target readers.

What mistakes to avoid when designing a magazine cover?

Some mistakes to avoid when designing a magazine cover include not designing it to resonate with a specific target readership, not following any hierarchy in the layout, using stock images or poor-quality pictures, using multiple fonts that don’t work with each other, inappropriate colors, improper kerning, and not using ample whitespace for the design to breathe.

How do you maintain consistency in branding with multiple covers for a magazine?

You should maintain consistency with the overall look, feel, and style across all your magazine covers. Online graphic design tools like DocHipo offer a brand kit that allows you to utilize it and easily maintain consistency with your brand color schemes, fonts, and assets.