Every real magazine has an impressum. It tells the reader who is responsible for the magazine, who designed it, how many copies were printed and much more. - There can also be an impressum in your wedding magazine, birthday magazine or graduation book. But how do you design it and what should it contain?
What belongs in an impressum
An impressum contains a variety of information. Every public publication - books, magazines and newspapers, but also websites - need an impressum. This is laid down by law. It is a "statement of origin in publications that contains information about the publisher, author, editor or editorial staff, above all to identify those responsible for the content under press law. Often, additional information such as the printer, publication method, year of publication and place of publication is also listed." (Wikipedia) That sounds pretty dry, doesn't it? However, what is written in the impressum of your magazine is entirely up to you - as long as you have designed it for private use. In that case there are no legal requirements and you can, for example, make it humorous.
Designing an impressum for your magazine
What can you write in your impressum? If you worked on the magazine with a larger group, for example with a whole group of friends on a graduation magazine or a wedding magazine, or with a group of colleagues on a birthday magazine, then you can name everyone involved in the impressum. There is enough space here to record who designed which pages or contributed what content to which pages. This information is especially interesting for the bride and groom or the birthday child. In the hustle and bustle of the party, there is certainly no time to tell who has contributed and how, and so the recipients can later look at the wedding, graduation or birthday magazine at their leisure and immediately see who has contributed and how.
Where is the impressum?
Take a look at your favourite magazine and see where the impressum is. Often it is at the very front of the magazine, near the table of contents, or at the very back, for example near the preview of the next issue. Where the masthead is placed in your birthday magazine or wedding newspaper is up to you and your personal taste.
Humorous or serious?
You can also decide how you like it. The best thing to do is to orientate yourself on the overall wording of your magazine. For example, you can create a romantic, classic or humorous wedding magazine. The masthead should also match the content: A humorous wedding magazine simply does not have a serious masthead, while a funny masthead is out of place in a romantic wedding magazine.
