Key question
How do individual pages become an issue filled with suspense and rhythm?
An issue is more than just a collection of pages. Like a film, it needs an opening, highlights, and quieter moments. You plan the page sequence in the flatplan, an overview of all pages at a glance.
Learning objective: You can create a flatplan, place sections and adverts effectively, and plan an issue with a deliberate rhythm.
An edition tells a story from front to back.
6.1 / Planning the flatplan
All pages at a glance.
The flatplan displays all pages of an issue as small thumbnails in reading order. It answers four questions:
01
Scope
How many pages? For saddle-stitch binding, always a multiple of four.
02
Order
What content goes where, from the cover to the final page?
03
Double pages
Which pages are facing each other when opened?
04
Status
Which pages are ready, and which are waiting for copy, images or approval?
The flatplan is the most important planning tool between the editorial team, design, advertising sales, and the printers. It is continually updated until the issue goes to press. Please note: page 1 is the front cover and appears on the right, followed by the double-page spreads 2/3, 4/5, and so on.
Plan the layout before you design the pages.
6.2 / Double-page spread and section
The double-page spread is read.
Anyone opening a booklet always sees two pages at the same time. You should therefore design double-page spreads as a single unit: an image can run across the gutter, provided nothing important lies in the centre. Right-hand pages stand out more when flicking through, making them sought-after for adverts and lead stories.
Sections are recurring areas such as the agenda, portrait or column. They appear in a similar place in every issue and have the same structure, allowing regular readers to find their way around immediately.
01
Double-page spread
The left and right sides work together like a single image.
02
Categories
Recurring areas with a fixed position and their own layout.
03
Ads
Advertisements fund the magazine and need an allocated space.
Think in double-page spreads, not individual pages.
6.3 / Loud and quiet
Rhythm maintains the tension.
A good issue alternates between loud and quiet pages. Large images, splash headlines, and strong colours are loud; text-heavy pages, columns, and lists are quiet. If too many loud pages follow one another, the eye grows tired; too many quiet ones feel monotonous.
Typically, short sections appear at the front, main feature stories in the centre, and utility content like the agenda at the back. For a 16-page saddle-stitched booklet, pages 8 and 9 form the centrespread: ideal for an image running across the gutter.
Loud needs quiet to seem loud.
Exercise
The flat plan for 'Quer'
Task: Plan the 16 pages of your issue of 'Quer' as a flatplan.
STEP 1
Set the sections and the cover story for your issue.
STEP 2
Distribute all the content across the 16 pages, either in the tool or on paper.
STEP 3
Mark loud and quiet pages with two colours.
STEP 4
Justify the placement of the adverts and the centre spread.
Evaluation: Where does tension build up in your flat plan, and where does it become monotonous?