5 Quick Tips to Cleaner Editorial Design

Designing a crisp, clean and well edited publication can often seem like a daunting task. Everyone wants to fill the pages of their beloved publication with all of the content they want and need. But also, it is crucial that the content within those pages is laid out in an appealing manner. In order to let your content shine, we’ve gathered 5 quicks tips to cleaner editorial design. Keep reading for tips that will take your design to the next level.

1. Be Careful with Fonts: Stick to Two

The first step in creating cleaner editorial design is to focus on the fonts you’re using. Yes, everyone wants to create a beautiful, unique and stunning publication. But, sometimes the beauty above the content takes away from its purpose in the first place. Let your content shine. By sticking with two fonts, one for headings and one for paragraph text, your editorial design will be easy to read and easy on the eyes. In return for easy to read pages, your viewership and impressions can go up!

2. Work with Negative Spaces

Want to make the most out of each page within your publication? Use the negative spaces within your editorials to their fullest potential. Take Connecticut Food and Farm for example. They have mastered the art of clean editorial design by using the negative spaces within their photography as the perfect spaces for bold and vibrant titles, captions and bylines.

3. Minimalism vs. Maximalism: Find a Direction

A common mistake that results in messy editorial design is a misunderstanding of the direction publishers wish for their magazine to go. To create cleaner editorial design find a direction to go. Whether it’s minimalist — with clean lines, large photos, and perfectly aligned text, or maximalist — with many photos, varying colors, and heavy text, deciding which route to take will result in the most appealing publication possible. Local Wolves for example took a minimalist approach to their editorial design. With this direction in place, not only has it created a cohesive look between issues, it has also given them a design that truly highlights the content within each issue.

4. Create a Color Palette + Consistent Design

Creating a color palette and consistent design for your publication will not only result in cleaner editorial design it will also create a unified brand look for all of your content. Begin by choosing a few colors and fonts that you wish to continually use within each feature and issue. Next, work to weave those decisions within all content. Once this is done, your publication will be extremely noticeable to your loyal readers and it will also be extremely appealing to new ones!

5. Think About Spreads Not Individual Pages

Lastly, in order to create cleaner editorial design it is crucial to think about full spreads instead of individual pages. When one designs content with individual pages in mind, they often create content that is blocky and non cohesive. Instead, envision and design cleaner content with the full spread in mind. By doing so, you will be able to create easy to read, fluid, and eye catching content that has readers flipping the pages for more.