How to Create a Page Layout and Magazine Article Template in InDesign

Learn how to design two stylish magazine article templates in InDesign that are easy to edit in this step-by-step tutorial.

For this magazine page layout tutorial, we’re going create two layout designs exploring different text columns widths. This InDesign template is ready to edit and easy to customize for any themed magazine.

Today, we’ll learn how to set up a magazine layout template by using Master pages. We’ll touch on how to use and add specific colors and fonts to the Swatches and Paragraph styles panels. These two panels will help us keep the magazine template file clean and tidy. This will help you and your users adapt colors and fonts to any design.

In a hurry? We’ve got amazing InDesign templates and magazine layout templates over at Envato Elements and GraphicRiver. Go check them out!

What You Will Need

You’ll need access to Adobe InDesign. If you don’t have the software, you can download a trial from the Adobe website. You’ll also need these assets:

• Beautiful woman with big earrings
• Woman teenager portrait
• Addington CF font
• Kenjo Font + Omega Sans Family

Download the assets and make sure the font is installed on your system before starting. When you are ready, we can dive in! 

1. Setting Up a Magazine Template in InDesign

Step 1

In InDesign, go to File > New. Name the document magazine layout template and set the file to the following dimensions:

• Width to 21 cm
• Height to 29.7 cm 
• Orientation to Portrait
• Units to Centimeters 
• Pages to 5
• Check Facing Pages
• Margins: set the Top and Bottom margins to 2.5 cm and the Inside and Outside margins to 2 cm
• Bleeds to 0.3 cm (it’s best to seek your professional printer’s preference)

Click Create.

Step 2

For this magazine article template, we’ll create layers to keep the elements organized. This will also help users edit the magazine layout template easily.

Bring up the Layers panel by going to Window > Layers. Double-click on Layer 1 and rename it Background. 

On the Layers panel main menu, and select New Layer. Name it Copy. Click OK.

Create a new layer named Images. 

Step 3

Head over to Window > Color > Swatches to expand the Swatches panel. Choose the New Color Swatch button from the main menu. Set the Swatch Name and values to the following: 

• Dark Green: C=80 M=60 Y=65 K=70 
• Light Green: C=60 M=35 Y=100 K=20
• Coral: C=10 M=65 Y=70 K=0

Click Add and OK after you input each color value.

Step 4

For this tutorial, we will create a list of Paragraph Styles that we will use to format parts of the magazine layout template. 

Head over to Window > Styles > Paragraph Styles to open the Paragraph Styles panel. 

In the main menu, select New Paragraph Style and set the Style Name to Headline A. Select the Basic Character Formats option from the left side menu. Use the following settings:

• Font Family: Kenjo I
• Font Style: Regular
• Size: 70 pt
• Leading: 65 pt

Select the Character Color option from the left side menu. Set the color to the Light Green swatch. Click OK.

Create a New Paragraph Style and set the Style Name to Headline B. Use the following settings for the Basic Character Formats option:

• Font Family: Omega Sans
• Font Style: Bold
• Size: 70 pt
• Leading: 65 pt

Select the Character Color option from the left side menu. Set the color to the Coral swatch. Click OK.

Create a New Paragraph Style and set the Style Name to Deck. Use the following settings for the Basic Character Formats option:

• Font Family: Addington CF
• Font Style: Light Italic
• Size: 18 pt

Click OK.

Create a New Paragraph Style and set the Style Name to Credits. Use the following settings for the Basic Character Formats option:

• Font Family: Omega Sans
• Font Style: Bold
• Size: 12 pt

Click OK.

Create a New Paragraph Style and set the Style Name to Pull-quote. Use the following settings for the Basic Character Formats option:

• Font Family: Omega Sans
• Font Style: Bold
• Size: 14 pt

Click OK.

Create a New Paragraph Style and set the Style Name to Copy – Drop Cap. Use the following settings for the Basic Character Formats option:

• Font Family: Addington CF
• Font Style: Thin
• Size: 9 pt
• Tracking: 20

Select the Drop Caps and Nested Styles option from the left side menu. Under Drop Caps, use the following settings:

• Lines: 6
• Characters: 1
• Check Align Left Edge

Click OK.

Create a New Paragraph Style and set the Style Name to Copy. Use the following settings for the Basic Character Formats option:

• Font Family: Addington CF
• Font Style: Thin
• Size: 9 pt
• Tracking: 20

Click OK.

Create a New Paragraph Style and set the Style Name to Folio. Use the following settings for the Basic Character Formats option:

• Font Family: Omega Sans
• Font Style: Bold
• Size: 8 pt
• Tracking: 200

Click OK.

2. Setting Up Master Pages and Page Numbers on Your Magazine Layout Design

Step 1

On the Layers panel, select the Copy layer.

Head over to the Pages panel (Window > Pages). Double-click on A-Master.

Step 2

Go to Layout > Create Guides. In the Create Guides option window, set the Columns Number to 6 and the Gutter to 0.5 cm. 

Under Options, set Fit Guides to: Margins. Click OK. 

Step 3

Select the Text Tool (T) from the toolbar and create a text frame above the top margin. Add text and use the Paragraph Styles to set the frame to Folio. 

Step 4

Create a text frame under the bottom margin—this is where the page numbers will go. Right-click while in the frame and select Insert Special Character > Markers > Current Page Number. The letter ‘A’ is a representation of page number that will appear later, outside the Master pages.

Using the Paragraph Styles, set the frame to Folio.

Step 5

Duplicate both text frames by pressing Command-C to Copy and Command-V to Paste. Move the two duplicated frames to the right page. 

On the Paragraph panel (Window > Type & Tables > Paragraph panel), select the Align right button.

3. Designing Spread A of the Magazine Layout Template

Step 1

On the Layers panel, double-click on pages 2-3, and we can start designing. Using the Text Tool (T), create a text frame at the top of the page. Add text and use the Headline A style from the Paragraph Styles panel to format it.

Step 2

Create another text frame with the Text Tool (T) under the headline. Using the Paragraph Styles, set the style to Deck and add text. 

Step 3

Create a text frame under the deck with the Text Tool (T). This frame will contain the story and photography credits. Using the Paragraph Styles, format the frame to the Credits style.

Step 4

To add the body copy, create a text frame using the Text Tool (T) to fit the rest of the page. 

With the text frame still selected, press Command-B. In the Text Frame Options window, set the Columns Number to 2. Click OK. 

Step 5

Add text to the frame and use the Paragraph Styles panel to format the content.

Set the body copy to the Copy style. Select the first paragraph and format it using the Copy – Drop Cap style. 

Select the drop cap and, using the Swatches panel, set the color to the Light Green swatch. 

Step 6

Create a text frame to include a pull-quote. Using the Paragraph Styles panel, format the text frame with the Pull-quote style. 

On the Swatches panel, set the color to the Light Green swatch. 

Open the Text Wrap panel by going to Window > Text Wrap. Select the text frame and activate the Wrap around bounding box button. 

While selecting the text frame, press Command-B. In the Text Frame Options window, set the Inset Spacing to 0.25 cm on all sides.

Place the frame in the center of the body copy.

Step 7

On the Layers panel, select the Images layer.

Press Command-D to Place an image. Locate the Beautiful woman with big earrings file. Click Place. Place the image on the right-hand page.

Press Shift-Command and drag to resize the image proportionally. Resize it to fit the page, making sure it is bleeding out of the page.

Step 8

To add an interesting visual element and a pop of color, we will create a rectangle. On the toolbar, select the Rectangle Tool (M) and create a rectangle along the gutter of the spread.

Using the Swatches panel. set the color to the Coral swatch. 

4. Designing Spread B of the Magazine Layout Template

Step 1

On the Pages panel, double-click on pages 4-5. 

On the Layers panel, select the Background layer.

Using the Rectangle Tool (M), cover the left page. Set the color on the Swatches panel to the Dark Green swatch.

Lock the Background layer and select the Image layer.

Step 2

Using the Rectangle Tool (M), click on the document to open the Rectangle options window. Set the Width to 17.5 cm and Height to 30.3 cm. 

Place the rectangle between the two pages of the magazine template. I am choosing to take up two columns on the left page and three columns on the right page. Below, you can see the rectangle in grey along with the columns. 

Step 3

Select the rectangle and press Command-D to Place an image within the object. Locate the Woman teenager portrait image. Click Place. 

Lock the Image layer and select the Copy layer. Move the Images layer under the Copy layer.

Step 4

Press Shift-Command and click on the folios (magazine name and page number). Press J on your keyboard to activate the text color on the Swatches panel. Select [Paper] to change the color to white. 

Select both text frames and press Command-L to Lock the items. 

Step 5

Using the Text Tool (T), add a text frame and content. On the Paragraph Styles panel, select the Headline B style to format the frame.

Step 6

Create another text frame with the Text Tool (T) under the headline. Using the Paragraph Styles, set the style to Deck and add text. 

On the Paragraph panel, set the text to Align left. On the Swatches panel, set the color of the text to [Paper].

Step 7

Create a text frame under the deck with the Text Tool (T). This frame will contain the story and photography credits. Using the Paragraph Styles, format the frame to the Credits style.

On the Paragraph panel, set the text to Align left. On the Swatches panel, set the color of the text to [Paper].

Step 8

Create two text frames using the Text Tool (T) on the left and right page. Below, you can see them in grey.

To link both text frames, click on the small empty square on the bottom right of the frame. Then click on the frame you want the copy to flow to.

Step 9

Add content to the frames and use the Paragraph Styles panel to format them to the Copy style. 

Use the Copy – Drop Cap style for the drop cap. On the Swatches panel, set the color of the drop cap to Coral.

Create a text frame with the Text Tool (T) above the copy on the left page. Use the Pull-quote style from the Paragraph Styles to format the frame. On the Swatches panel, change the color to Coral.

5. How to Export the Magazine Template for Printing

Once you’ve put together your full magazine, you may want to export it for printing.

Step 1

To export the file, go to File > Export. Name the file Open House Flyer and choose Adobe PDF (Print) from the Format dropdown menu. Click Save. 

Step 2

Using the Direct Selection Tool (A), resize the image to fit the height of the spread. Hold down Shift to resize the image proportionally.

In the Export Adobe PDF window, set the Adobe PDF Preset to Press Quality.

On the left side of the panel, select Marks and Bleeds. Check All Printer’s Marks and Use Document Bleed Settings. Click Export. You will have a ready-to-print PDF file.

Great Job! You’ve Finished This Tutorial!

In this tutorial, we learned how to design two different magazine layouts that also serve as magazine templates. These magazine article templates are ready to edit for your own future use or for any user. Today, we learned to:

• set up a ready-to-print magazine article template
• add color swatches 
• create Paragraph Styles to easily change fonts
• use Master pages to add a folio to the pages
• use columns and guides to create different text frame widths
• format text frames into columns and use the Text Wrap panel

If you are new to InDesign and need a layout for magazine articles or magazine layout design right away, head over to Envato Elements and Graphic River. We’ve got many options to explore!

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