If you are going to make your own magazine, then it is useful to know in advance what kind of content will be included in your magazine. Want to know how to create fun and diverse content for your own magazine? Read on...
Step 1. Brainstorming about the contents of the magazine
Are you working together on a magazine? Then first organise a brainstorming round with a number of co-makers. This can be done 'live', and of course also via WhatsApp groups and video tools.
If you are making a magazine on your own, it can be useful to first put some ideas down on paper as a reference. You can then develop these ideas later. Some makers use white sheets of paper and sketch the content on them.
Step 2. Draw up a list of characteristics
You can draw up a list (together) of characteristics of the person for whom you are going to make a magazine. You can think of the following for for instance Jules:
- External characteristics (what does she look like, what does she wear)
- Areas of interest (what does she like)
- Background (which family does she come from, which town)
- hobbies (what does she like to do and what would she like to learn)
- Profession (what is she doing now, what did she do in the past)
- Education and courses she has attended
- Stages of life (what was she like as a baby, child, adolescent, young adult, etc.)
- What are her typical remarks and statements?
- Other particularities
Write down some of these characteristics.
Step 3. Choose a characteristic and make it a subject
Perhaps you have already noticed while brainstorming about the characteristics that you almost automatically come up with a nice subject or article. If not, choose one topic from your list.
Example: hobby - cooking.
Think about what kind of article you could make from this. You can approach a subject from different angles.
A page with recipes, a column about the craziest dinner ever, review: where to get the best meat, a photo report about a dinner with the cooking group, shopping: the best cook shops, 11 delicious apple pie recipes, and so on.
Step 4. Choose a type of heading
Now that you have a subject to make a page about, you can look at what form you should give your article. There are many different types of headings. Some of them you will certainly know: the interview, the column, the advertorial and the argument.
Example: hobby - cooking
Heading: letters section
Content: Write three questions in the form of letters about cooking and let an expert answer them. Of course you can be the expert yourself - an expert with a lot of humour or a lot of knowledge or both. It is up to you!
You can also use a lesser-known heading for your page in the magazine. Looking for heading inspiration? Here is a list of 44 headings.
Step 5. Look at the structure of a heading
Look in existing magazines to see how the heading of your choice is structured. Do you need a lot of pictures? How much text should be used on the page? Does your section consist of one or more pages?
Step 6. Start your story
Right now have all the basic ingredients for making your own page. So you can start right away. Have fun creating your magazine.
