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magazine printing
 

Magazine printing is a specialised business requiring attention to detail and closely coordinated print and design services, to ensure that deadlines are always met. The time constraints on getting a magazine to press requires synchronization between designers and printers to be incredibly precise. Add the journalistic time constraints and the special inks for covers, laminating, perfect binding etc. And not forgetting the sheer volume of pages to be proofed, made plate ready and printed every issue. This process understandably requires a methodology and organisation that goes beyond the normal print job. While PDF proofing and direct to plate digital printing allow for enhanced workflow, they still require print management of the very highest standard.

Magazine design
Several ingredients combine to create what would be generally be considered an aesthetically pleasing magazine spread. These include balance, rhythm and unity. A good spread will typically have a good balance of. More>

Pre press considerations
As well as the common decisions that have to be made when setting up a job for print there are a few others unique to magazine printing that have to be considered before the design work can actually begin. These include . More>

Magazine design

Elements of a good layout
Several ingredients combine to create what would be generally be considered an aesthetically pleasing magazine spread. These include balance, rhythm and unity. A good spread will typically have a good balance of images to copy volume and will use a limited number of colours and fonts.

Balance
A sense of balance should be achieved where typography and imagery compliment one another to create a feeling of equilibrium.
While the amount of copy and images on a page play an important part in the decision making process there will be layouts that create a sense of balance in the mind of the viewer. This will involve the size and distribution of the images in relation one another and to the copy on the page.
Asymmetry
A layout that works well can be symmetrical but might as easily be asymmetrical. While asymmetry normally imparts a sense of imbalance in the eye of the viewer this effect can be successfully employed to add dynamism to a layout.
 
Asymmetry can add dynamism to a page where symmetry can look dull
Typographic consistency.
A viewer will expect a typographic treatment that is consistent with the content of the article and the overall style of the magazine.

Creating rhythm and harmony
Font and border colours will generally compliment imagery used within the page, this creates a unity that draws the elements of a page together. While a spread will normally be printed using the full color process a good designer will, where possible, keep his colour schemes to a limited pallet. While this might be the use of complimentary colours it will more often be analogous schemes that are used to in creating a good layout.

Unity
By using a refined selection of colours a designer can create a sense of rhythm through a layout that will work at a subconscious level to be pleasing to the viewer. In this example the designer has used the dominant colour from the photograph and used tints and tones of it in the text and borders to help pull the spread together creating a unified and pleasing spread.
Experience
In page design as in most things, there are exceptions to most rules. Knowing when you can bend them generally only comes with experience.


Pre press considerations

As well as the common decisions that have to be made when setting up a job for print there are a few others unique to magazine printing that have to be considered before the design work can actually begin. These include Pagination, cover stock, bleeds and binding as all have a bearing on how the job will be designed and printed.


Imposition
Once the job of designing the spreads has been done the spreads must be imposed onto the sheet. As most commercial presses only print on one side of the sheet at a time the paper must be turned and placed back through the plate a second time to allow the reverse side to be printed. In order to ensure consistent pagination through this process the individual spreads must be arranged on the sheet in a specific order and orientation, this process is called imposition.
Below is an example of a 16 page document that has been imposed so that the pages will back up correctly.

N.B. As well as ensuring the order of the pages is correct the process of imposition must also allow for the thickness of the spine on any larger publication. The process of binding will require the front and back spreads to be slightly farther apart on the sheet than the center spreads.
Example:
 
Folding and trimming
Each sheet or ‘flat’ is then printed on one side of the paper and the resulting printed sheet is folded to become what is known as a ‘signature’. It is then ready for combining into a magazine. This can be by simply laying the folded sheets on top of each other or by nesting them inside one another.
Example:
 
Creating a dummy
In order to check that imposition is correctly set up a mock-up or ‘dummy’ will normally be created. This will allow the designer and printer to check that the pages do ‘back up’ as intended. A dummy will normally consist of the required pages(often scaled down) printed out via a laser printer in the order and orientation that they have been imposed and then cut and folded as proposed for the final publication.
The left hand pages are always the odd numbers and most signatures involve sixteen pages. As some publication are only printed with colour on a single side creating a dummy allows you to see where you can cut costs by arranging articles to allow single colour on one side of the sheet.
 
Covers
There are basically two types of cover. A 'self cover' which uses the same paper on the outer cover as the rest of the pages and a 'cover' that uses a heavier stock.

Bleeds
Many modern magazine designs use images that are cropped by the edge of the page. These require to be positioned so that when the page trimming is done bleed off of the edge. For this reason the page is given what is called a bleed.
Binding
Binding describes how the folded sheets are joined together. This can be by a stapling process known as saddle stitching, or by perfect binding

  • Saddle stitching uses a special machine to create staples from a roll of wire and binds the signatures by threading them during the folding process.
  • Perfect binding involves trimming of the inner edge and then using glue to attach the individual pages to a spine creating a distinctive flat spine.
Perfect binding
  1. The pages are clamped and trimmed.
  2. Glue is applied to the cut edge
  3. The cover is pressed into place
  4. When the glue has set the clamp is removed
Pros:
Related sections

Choosing the right designer
The web is awash with people willing to design your new publication but who to entrust with such an important commission. We look at some of the things you should consider before committing to a designer. More>

Avoiding undesirable results
There are many things to be considered if a printer is to avoid a job going pear shaped. Some will prove to be simply annoying little hiccups while others can justifiably be called print disasters. The thing they all have in common is that they can usually be avoided. More>

Signing off and going to press
The designer is generally expected to supply your printer with all the files that they require to output film or(as is more often the case these days) produce a digital plate. While designers tend to be familiar with the requirements of 'collecting for output' .More>

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