Design a Beauty Magazine in InDesign

Build a 4-page print-ready beauty magazine spread with editorial typography.

Introduction

30 Second Summary

Every beauty magazine you flip through started as a blank document. Someone had to arrange each photo, headline, and pull quote into a layout that feels effortless to read.

In this project, you will design a 4-page beauty magazine spread in Adobe InDesign, from a full-bleed cover to a styled interior article to a print-ready PDF you can hand to a printer or add to your portfolio.

What You'll Build

When you open your exported PDF, you will see a polished magazine spread with crop marks and bleeds that looks like it came from a professional beauty publication, ready to show at a job interview or send to a commercial printer.

By the end of this project, you'll have:

A magazine cover where a full-bleed beauty portrait fills edge-to-edge behind bold masthead typography and cover lines.
A two-page interior spread with a multi-column skincare article, placed product images with text wrapping, and a styled pull quote.
Reusable paragraph and character styles that let you change your body font across every page in a single click.
A print-ready PDF exported with correct bleeds and crop marks, suitable for commercial printing.
Secret Mission: Add parent pages with automatic page numbers and a running header so your magazine scales to any page count.

Are there any prerequisites?

Basic familiarity with Adobe apps (like Photoshop or Illustrator) is helpful but not required. No prior InDesign experience needed.

Before We Start

Before we dive in, let's lock in what you're about to build and why it matters for your design portfolio.

Set Up InDesign and Create Your Magazine Document

A print-ready magazine needs precise document settings from the start. Page size, bleed areas, and column structure all determine where your content can safely sit without being cut off at the printer.

In this step, you will install Adobe InDesign, configure a 4-page magazine document with industry-standard print settings, and gather the stock images you will use throughout the project.

In this step, get ready to:

Install Adobe InDesign via the Creative Cloud free trial.
Create a new 4-page document with facing pages, print bleeds, and two-column layout.
Download free beauty and skincare stock images for the magazine.

Install Adobe InDesign

InDesign is a desktop publishing application built for multi-page layouts like magazines, brochures, and books. You will install it through the Adobe Creative Cloud desktop app, which manages all Adobe software on your machine.

Open your web browser and navigate to the InDesign free trial page:
https://www.adobe.com/products/indesign/free-trial-download.html
Click Start free trial.
Sign in with your Adobe ID (or create one if you do not have one yet).
Follow the on-screen prompts to download and install the Creative Cloud desktop app.
Once the Creative Cloud desktop app is installed, it will open automatically. Find InDesign in the Apps tab and click Install.
Wait for the installation to complete. InDesign opens automatically once installed.

What is the free trial?

The InDesign free trial lasts 7 days and gives you full access to all features. After the trial ends, the standalone plan costs US$22.99/mo. You can cancel anytime before the trial ends to avoid charges.

You should now see the InDesign Home screen with options to create a new document or open recent files.

✔️ InDesign is open and showing the Home screen

You are ready to create your magazine document.

ⓧ The installation failed or InDesign won't open

Make sure your Windows is up to date (Windows 10 64-bit or Windows 11 64-bit required).
Confirm you have at least 3.6 GB of free disk space and 8 GB of RAM.
Close any other Adobe apps that may be running, then try the install again from the Creative Cloud desktop app.
If the issue persists, visit Adobe's troubleshooting page for installation failures.

Create your magazine document

Now you will set up the document structure that the entire magazine depends on. Getting page size, margins, bleeds, and columns right at this stage means everything you place later sits safely within the printable area.

In InDesign, select File in the menu bar.
Click New, then Document.
In the New Document dialog, click the Print tab at the top.
In the Preset Details pane on the right, configure the following settings:

Set Pages to 4.
Check the Facing Pages checkbox.
Set Page Size to Letter (8.5 x 11 in).
Set all four Margins values (Top, Bottom, Inside, Outside) to 0.5 in.
Set Columns to 2.
Set Column Gutter to 0.1667 in.
Expand the Bleed and Slug section. Set all four Bleed values to 0.125 in.
Click Create.

What do these settings mean?

Facing Pages pairs left and right pages as spreads, just like a physical magazine that opens flat. Page 1 stands alone (the cover) while pages 2-3 form a spread.

Bleed is the extra area beyond the page edge where images extend. Printers trim at the page boundary, so the 0.125 in bleed ensures no white slivers appear on edge-to-edge images.

The 2-column layout with a 0.1667 in gutter gives you a clean text grid for the interior article pages.

Your workspace now shows a blank 4-page document. Open the Pages panel to confirm the structure.

Select Window in the menu bar, then click Pages.

In the Pages panel, you should see page 1 as a single thumbnail (your cover), pages 2-3 displayed side by side as a facing spread, and page 4 as a single page. The red guides around each page represent your 0.125 in bleed area.

Don't see red bleed guides?

Bleed guides may be hidden if your view is set to Preview mode. Press W on your keyboard to toggle back to Normal mode, and the red bleed guides will appear.

If bleed is set to 0, go to File then Document Setup and update the bleed values to 0.125 in on all sides. Help me fix my bleed settings.

Download stock images from Pexels

Your magazine needs high-quality beauty photography for the cover and interior pages. You will grab free stock images from Pexels, which requires no account or sign-up.

Right-click on your Windows Desktop.
Select New, then Folder.
Name the folder Glow-Magazine.
Open your web browser and go to:
https://www.pexels.com
Search for skincare and download one image (click the image, then click the Free Download button).
Search for beauty portrait and download one image.
Search for cosmetics and download 1-2 more images.
Save all downloaded images into the Glow-Magazine folder on your Desktop.

Open the Glow-Magazine folder on your Desktop.
Confirm you see 3-4 image files inside.

Pick landscape and portrait images

Choose at least one portrait-oriented image (tall) for the cover and one or two landscape-oriented images (wide) for the interior pages. This gives you variety when placing images across different frame shapes.

Images downloading as WebP?

Some browsers save Pexels images in WebP format by default. InDesign can place WebP files, so this is fine. If you prefer JPEG, click the dropdown arrow next to the download button on Pexels and select a specific size. This usually delivers a JPEG. Help me get the right image format for InDesign.

Your document is configured and your images are ready. Next up, you will design the magazine cover with a full-bleed hero image and bold masthead typography.

Design the Magazine Cover

Your document is set up with bleeds, margins, and facing pages. Now it is time to make something you can actually look at.

The cover is the most visible page of any magazine. By designing it first, you get a finished result immediately and build confidence before tackling the more complex interior layout.

In this step, get ready to:

Place a full-bleed hero image that extends to the bleed edges on all sides.
Add a bold masthead title with a drop shadow for readability.
Style cover lines with lightweight typography in the lower-left area.

Place the full-bleed hero image

A full-bleed image means the photo extends all the way to the physical edge of the printed page. To achieve this, you draw a frame that reaches the red bleed guides (not just the page edge) and then place your image inside it.

In the Pages panel, double-click the page 1 thumbnail to make sure you are on the cover page.
Select the Rectangle Frame tool by pressing F on your keyboard.
Draw a frame starting from the top-left corner of the red bleed guide area, and drag all the way to the bottom-right corner of the red bleed guide area.
The frame should extend beyond the white page edge on all four sides. You will see an X inside it, indicating it is an empty graphics frame.
Select File > Place (or press Ctrl+D).
Navigate to the project folder on your Desktop, select your hero beauty portrait image, and click Open.
With the frame still selected, choose Object > Fitting > Fill Frame Proportionally.

Your cover page now shows the beauty portrait filling the entire frame, extending past the page edges to the bleed guides.

What does Fill Frame Proportionally do?

This command scales the image up or down until it completely covers the frame, keeping its original proportions. Any excess is cropped by the frame edges.

This guarantees no white gaps appear at the edges after the printer trims the page.

Image not filling the frame?

Make sure you selected the frame (not the image inside it) before choosing Object > Fitting > Fill Frame Proportionally. Click the edge of the frame with the Selection tool (the black arrow, shortcut V) to select it.

If the image appears very zoomed in, it may be a low-resolution file. Try a different image from your project folder.

Help me fix this

Add the masthead

The masthead is the magazine's title. It needs to be large, bold, and readable over the photo. You will type it in white and add a drop shadow so it stands out against any background.

Select the Type tool by pressing T on your keyboard.
Draw a text frame across the top of page 1, spanning from the left margin guide to the right margin guide.
Type GLOW in all caps.
Open the Character panel by selecting Window > Type & Tables > Character.
Set the font to a bold sans-serif such as Arial Black (or any heavy font available on your system).
Set the font size to 72 pt.
Set the font color to White by clicking the fill color swatch in the Swatches panel and choosing Paper (white).

You should now see GLOW in large white letters across the top of your cover, sitting on top of the hero image.

Switch to the Selection tool by pressing V and click the text frame to select it.
Choose Object > Effects > Drop Shadow.
In the Effects dialog that opens, leave the default drop shadow settings and click OK.

The masthead now has a subtle shadow behind it, making it pop off the image even on lighter areas of the photo.

Why add a drop shadow?

White text can disappear against bright areas of a photo. A drop shadow creates a thin dark edge behind the letters, ensuring the masthead stays readable no matter what colors appear in the image beneath it.

Text not visible on the image?

If you cannot see the text, the font color may still be set to Black. Select the text with the Type tool, open the Swatches panel, and click Paper (which is white in InDesign).

If the text frame is behind the image frame, select the text frame and choose Object > Arrange > Bring to Front.

Help me troubleshoot this

Add cover lines

Cover lines are the short headlines on a magazine cover that tease the articles inside. They are typically smaller and lighter weight than the masthead.

Select the Type tool by pressing T.
Draw a text frame in the lower-left area of page 1, below or beside your hero image's focal point.
Type 2-3 cover lines on separate lines, such as The Ultimate Skincare Routine and Summer Glow Tips.
In the Character panel, set the font to a lighter weight sans-serif (such as Arial Regular or a light weight available on your system).
Set the font size to a value between 18 pt and 24 pt.
Set the font color to White (Paper swatch).
Adjust the space between lines by changing the Leading value in the Character panel. Try a value slightly larger than the font size (such as 28 pt leading for 22 pt text) to give the lines breathing room.

What is leading?

Leading (pronounced "ledding") is the vertical space between lines of text. It is named after the strips of lead metal that typesetters used to place between lines of movable type.

In InDesign, leading is measured in points and controls how tight or airy your text block feels.

Before you look at the final result, take a moment to predict: what should your cover page look like right now?

Your page 1 should show a full-bleed beauty image with "GLOW" in large white text at the top and 2-3 cover lines in smaller white text at the lower left. It looks like a real magazine cover.

Cover lines hard to read?

If the text blends into the image, try increasing the font size slightly or repositioning the text frame over a darker area of the photo. You can also add a drop shadow to this frame using the same Object > Effects > Drop Shadow technique you used on the masthead.

Help me fix my cover lines

You have a polished magazine cover that looks ready for the newsstand. Next up, you will build the interior article layout with multi-column text and placed images.

Build the Interior Article Layout

Your magazine cover looks polished and professional. Now it's time to build the pages that give your magazine substance.

The interior spread is where InDesign's core editorial tools come together. You'll place multi-column text, fit images with text wrap, and create visual breaks with pull quotes. This is the skill set beauty publishers use daily.

In this step, get ready to:

Place a two-column article text frame on page 2.
Add a product image with text wrapping on page 3.
Create a styled pull quote to break up the article layout.

Navigate to the interior spread and add article text

Pages 2-3 form a facing spread in your magazine. This is where readers open to find the feature article. You'll fill page 2 with placeholder text that spans both columns.

In the Pages panel, double-click the 2-3 spread thumbnail to navigate to your interior pages.
Select the Type tool (T) from the left toolbar.
On page 2, click and drag to draw a text frame that spans both columns within the margin guides.
Type or paste a paragraph or two of placeholder article text about skincare routines.

Placeholder text ideas

Write a few sentences about a morning skincare routine, hydration tips, or product recommendations. The exact text does not matter because you'll style it in the next step. Just make sure you have enough to fill some of the two-column frame.

You should see your text flowing across two columns within the margin guides on page 2.

Text only fills one column?

Make sure your text frame is wide enough to span both column guides. Drag the right edge of the frame to the right margin. If your text is short, it may only fill the left column, which is fine for now.

help me figure out why my text frame isn't spanning both columns

Place a product image with text wrap on page 3

A magazine article without images feels like a textbook. You'll place a product photo on page 3 and apply text wrap so that if text ever flows near the image, it pushes away cleanly.

Select the Rectangle Frame tool (F) from the left toolbar.
On page 3, draw a frame roughly half the page width.
Choose File > Place (Ctrl+D on Windows).
Select one of your product or skincare images from your project folder on the Desktop and click Open.
With the image frame still selected, choose Object > Fitting > Fill Frame Proportionally.

Your image now fills the frame edge-to-edge without distortion.

What does Fill Frame Proportionally do?

This command scales the image up or down so it completely fills the frame while maintaining its original proportions. Some edges of the image may be cropped by the frame, but nothing will look stretched or squished.

With the image frame still selected, open the Text Wrap panel by choosing Window > Text Wrap.
In the Text Wrap panel, click the third icon (Wrap around bounding box).
Set the offset value to 0.125 in on all sides.

What is text wrap?

Text wrap tells surrounding text frames to respect the image's space. Instead of text running behind or over the image, it flows around the bounding box with a small gap (the offset). This keeps your layout readable and professional.

Page 3 now shows a product image inside a frame with text wrap enabled. The wrap icon is highlighted in the Text Wrap panel confirming the setting is active.

Image looks stretched or cropped badly?

If the image looks wrong, click the image frame and try Object > Fitting > Fill Frame Proportionally again. You can also resize the frame by dragging its corner handles while holding Shift to maintain proportions.

help me fix my image fitting in InDesign

Add a pull quote on page 2

Pull quotes are short, eye-catching excerpts pulled from an article and displayed in a larger, styled format. They give readers a visual break and highlight a key message.

Select the Type tool (T) from the left toolbar.
On page 2, draw a small text frame between or beside the two columns.
Type the following text inside the frame: Beautiful skin begins with good habits.
Select all the text you just typed.
Open the Character panel (Window > Type & Tables > Character).
Click the Italic style button or choose an italic font style from the font style dropdown.
Set the font size to 24 pt.
Open the Swatches panel (Window > Color > Swatches). Double-click a swatch or create a new one with a soft pink or coral tone and apply it to the selected text.

Why style the pull quote manually?

Right now you are formatting this text by hand. That works for a single pull quote. In the next step, you'll discover what happens when you need consistent styling across many elements and learn a faster approach.

Your pull quote should now stand out from the body text. It appears in italic, at a larger size, and in a distinct color that draws the reader's eye.

Pull quote color not changing?

Make sure the text is selected (highlighted blue), not just the text frame. Also confirm the Fill icon (not Stroke) is active in the Swatches panel. The fill controls the text color and the stroke controls the text outline.

help me change the color of my text in InDesign

Before moving on, take a look at your full spread. What do you expect to see across pages 2 and 3?

Pages 2-3 now show a two-column article with body text on page 2, an image with text wrap on page 3, and a styled pull quote that creates a visual break in the layout. Your spread looks like a real magazine interior.

What should I see?

Page 2 has a text frame with placeholder article text filling the two-column layout. A smaller pull quote frame sits between or beside the columns with italic, colored text at 24 pt.

Page 3 shows a product image inside a frame that takes up roughly half the page. The Text Wrap panel confirms the wrap is set to "Wrap around bounding box" with a 0.125 in offset.

Your interior spread has structure and visual interest. Next, you'll create paragraph styles to make your typography consistent and easy to update across the entire magazine.

Create and Apply Paragraph and Character Styles

Your interior spread has body text, an image, and a pull quote. It looks like a magazine already.

But there is a fragility hiding under the surface. All the formatting you applied in the previous step is manual. If you needed to change the body font across 40 pages, you would have to update it one paragraph at a time. Paragraph styles solve this by letting you update all body text in one click. This is the single most important InDesign skill for editorial work.

In this step, get ready to:

Create three paragraph styles for body text, headlines, and pull quotes.
Apply the styles to all article text on pages 2-3.
Change one style setting and watch all styled text update simultaneously.

Create a Body Text paragraph style

A paragraph style is a saved set of formatting rules. Once you create one and apply it, any change to the style automatically updates every paragraph that uses it.

Navigate to pages 2-3 by double-clicking the 2-3 spread thumbnail in the Pages panel.
Select all of your body text on page 2 using the Type tool (T). Click inside the article text frame, then press Ctrl+A to select all text in the frame.
Open the Paragraph Styles panel by going to Window > Styles > Paragraph Styles.
Click the Create new style icon at the bottom-right of the panel.
Double-click the new style name to rename it Body Text.
Double-click Body Text again to open Paragraph Style Options.
In the left sidebar, click Basic Character Formats. Set the font to a serif typeface (e.g., Georgia or Times New Roman), size 10 pt, and leading to 14 pt.
Click Indents and Spacing in the left sidebar. Set Space After to 0.0833 in.
Click OK.

Your selected body text immediately updates to the new font, size, and spacing. You should see a clean, readable serif typeface with consistent spacing between paragraphs.

What is a paragraph style?

A paragraph style stores all formatting for a type of text: font, size, leading, spacing, color, and more. When you apply it to a paragraph, that paragraph obeys the style.

The power comes from editing the style later. Change the font size in the style definition and every single paragraph using that style updates instantly. No find-and-replace needed.

Text didn't change after clicking OK?

Make sure you had text selected before creating the style. If you created the style with nothing selected, click inside your body text, press Ctrl+A, then click the Body Text style name in the Paragraph Styles panel to apply it manually.

help me apply my Body Text paragraph style to selected text

Create Headline and Pull Quote styles

Your article needs a headline. You will type one and then save its formatting as a second paragraph style.

Click at the very beginning of your article text frame on page 2 with the Type tool.
Press Enter to create a blank line, then move your cursor back up to the new first line.
Type The Ultimate Skincare Routine as your headline.
Select the headline text. In the Character panel (Window > Type & Tables > Character), set the font to a bold sans-serif (e.g., Arial Black or any heavy weight), size 36 pt.
With the headline still selected, click the Create new style icon in the Paragraph Styles panel.
Double-click the new style and rename it Headline.

You should see a bold, large headline at the top of your article text. The Paragraph Styles panel now shows two custom styles.

Now create a style from your existing pull quote.

Click inside the pull quote text frame on page 2 (the one that reads "Beautiful skin begins with good habits.").
Select all the pull quote text with Ctrl+A.
Click the Create new style icon in the Paragraph Styles panel.
Double-click the new style and rename it Pull Quote.

Your Paragraph Styles panel now shows three custom styles: Body Text, Headline, and Pull Quote. The italic, colored formatting from your pull quote is now captured in the style definition.

Why create styles from formatted text?

When you select already-formatted text and click "Create new style," InDesign captures all the active formatting into the style definition automatically. This saves you from manually entering every setting in the Style Options dialog.

Don't see all three styles in the panel?

Make sure you are looking at the Paragraph Styles panel, not the Character Styles panel. They live in the same menu (Window > Styles) but are separate panels. Paragraph Styles controls entire paragraphs. Character Styles controls individual words or characters.

help me find my paragraph styles in InDesign

Apply styles and prove the instant update

Your styles exist in the panel, but they are only applied to the text that was selected when you created them. Any other body text on the page still uses default formatting. Let's apply the styles consistently across all text.

Click inside the article text frame on page 2 with the Type tool.
Press Ctrl+A to select all text in the frame.
Click Body Text in the Paragraph Styles panel to apply it to everything.
Now select just the headline line ("The Ultimate Skincare Routine") and click Headline in the Paragraph Styles panel.
Click inside the pull quote text frame. Press Ctrl+A and click Pull Quote in the Paragraph Styles panel.

All text on pages 2-3 now uses named styles. The headline is large and bold, the body text is a clean serif, and the pull quote is italic and colored.

Now for the real proof. Before you do the next action, ask yourself: if you change the Body Text style's font size, what do you think will happen to the text on your pages?

Double-click the Body Text style name in the Paragraph Styles panel to open its options.
Under Basic Character Formats, change the font size from 10 pt to 11 pt.
Click OK.

Every single paragraph of body text across pages 2-3 just jumped to 11 pt simultaneously. You changed one number in one place and it cascaded everywhere. That is the power of paragraph styles.

Why this matters for real editorial work

Imagine a 96-page magazine where the art director decides body text should be 10.5 pt instead of 11 pt. Without styles, that is hundreds of manual edits. With styles, it is a single change in one dialog. This is why every professional InDesign workflow starts with defining styles before placing content.

Only some text updated?

Text that did not update was never assigned the Body Text style. Click inside the unchanged paragraph, then click Body Text in the Paragraph Styles panel. If you see a + symbol next to the style name, that means local overrides exist. Right-click the style and choose Clear Overrides to make the paragraph fully obey the style definition.

help me fix text that isn't following my paragraph style

Your magazine now has professional, consistent typography powered by reusable styles. Next up, you will export the entire spread as a print-ready PDF with bleeds and crop marks.

Export a Print-Ready PDF

Your interior spread is polished with consistent paragraph styles that update everywhere in one click. But a design that lives only on your screen is not a deliverable you can hand to a printer or show in a portfolio.

A magazine layout only matters if it can be printed correctly. In this step, you will finish the back cover and export a press-ready PDF with proper bleeds and crop marks, proving you understand the full editorial production pipeline.

In this step, get ready to:

Design a simple back cover on page 4.
Export the entire document as a print-ready PDF with bleeds and crop marks.
Verify the exported PDF displays correctly in a PDF viewer.

Design the back cover

Page 4 is still blank. You will add a simple back cover with a solid dark background and a tagline so the exported PDF has content on every page.

In the Pages panel, double-click the page 4 thumbnail to navigate to it.
Select the Rectangle tool (M) from the Tools panel on the left.
Draw a rectangle that extends to the red bleed guides on all four sides of the page.
Open the Swatches panel (Window > Color > Swatches).
With the rectangle selected, click a dark color swatch (such as Black or a dark navy) to fill the shape.
Select the Type tool (T) and draw a text frame in the center of the page.
Type a tagline such as glowmagazine.com | hello@glowmagazine.com or any fictional contact info for Glow Magazine.
Style the text White, 12 pt, centered, so it is readable against the dark background.

Page 4 now shows a solid dark rectangle filling edge to edge with white centered text on top. Your document has content on all four pages.

Dark rectangle not reaching the edges?

Make sure you are snapping to the red bleed guides, not the black margin guides. The bleed guides sit outside the page edge. Zoom in to the corners to confirm the rectangle overlaps the red lines.

If you accidentally used the Rectangle Frame tool (F) instead of the Rectangle tool (M), you will see an X through the shape. Delete it and redraw with the Rectangle tool.

Why is my back cover rectangle showing an X instead of a solid fill?

Export as a print-ready PDF

With all four pages complete, you can now export the document to a format that any commercial printer accepts.

Choose File > Export.
In the Save dialog, set the format to Adobe PDF (Print).
Name the file Glow-Magazine-Spread.pdf and save it to your project folder on the Desktop.
Click Save.

The Export Adobe PDF dialog opens with several categories on the left.

At the top of the dialog, set the Adobe PDF Preset to [High Quality Print].
Click Marks and Bleeds in the list on the left side of the dialog.
Under Marks, check Crop Marks.
Under Bleed, check Use Document Bleed Settings. This pulls in the 0.125 in bleed you set when creating the document.
Click Export.

What do these export settings do?

The [High Quality Print] preset keeps images at full resolution and embeds fonts so the PDF looks identical on any machine.

Crop marks are thin lines printed at the corners of each page showing the printer exactly where to cut. The bleed setting ensures your full-bleed images extend 0.125 in past the trim line so there is no white edge after cutting.

Don't see Adobe PDF (Print) as a format option?

Make sure you are using File > Export, not File > Save As. The PDF (Print) format only appears in the Export dialog.

My InDesign export dialog does not show the PDF Print option. What should I do?

Verify your exported PDF

Before you call this project complete, take a moment to predict what you expect to see in the exported file.

Think about this: will your PDF show the magazine pages exactly as they appear in InDesign, or will there be extra marks around the edges? Why?
Navigate to your project folder on the Desktop.
Double-click Glow-Magazine-Spread.pdf to open it in any PDF viewer.

You should see 4 pages with thin crop marks visible around each page. The cover image extends past the crop marks all the way to the bleed edge. Text is crisp and all pages display correctly. This PDF is ready to send to a printer.

Why do the crop marks matter?

Commercial printers print on oversized paper and then trim to the final page size. Crop marks tell the blade exactly where to cut. Without them, the printer has to guess where your design ends.

The image bleeding past the crop marks guarantees there will be no white sliver along the trimmed edge, even if the cut is slightly off-center.

No crop marks visible in your PDF?

Re-export using File > Export and confirm that Crop Marks is checked under the Marks and Bleeds section. Also confirm Use Document Bleed Settings is checked so the bleed area is included in the PDF.

I exported my PDF but I don't see crop marks or bleed. How do I fix this?

Secret mission

Add Parent Pages with Auto Page Numbers

A real magazine has dozens of pages. Can you set up parent pages so that page numbers and a running header appear automatically on every interior page, without touching each page individually?

Clean Up Your Resources

Decide whether to keep your resources running, pause them to come back later, or delete them entirely. This project uses the Adobe InDesign free trial, which begins billing at US$22.99/mo after 7 days.

Cost warning

The InDesign free trial automatically converts to a paid subscription (US$22.99/mo) after 7 days. If you do not plan to continue using InDesign, cancel the trial before day 7 to avoid charges.

To cancel, sign in to your Adobe account, select Manage plan for your InDesign plan, then select Cancel your plan and follow the prompts.

Resources you used:

Adobe InDesign (installed via Creative Cloud free trial).
InDesign document file (.indd) and exported Glow-Magazine-Spread.pdf.
Project folder on your Desktop (containing stock images and exported PDF).

Keep everything running

No action needed. Choose this if you plan to keep building on your magazine or want InDesign for other projects.

Keep your .indd file and exported PDF for your portfolio.
Set a reminder to decide whether to keep or cancel your InDesign subscription before the 7-day trial ends.
Your Adobe account stays active and you can continue using InDesign until the trial expires or you cancel.

Pause - I'll come back to this later

Uninstall InDesign to free up disk space while keeping your project files for later. You can reinstall if you purchase a subscription.

Open the Creative Cloud desktop app.
Go to Apps > All Apps.
Find InDesign, click the three-dots icon (More actions), and select Uninstall.
When prompted, select Keep to retain your preferences and settings for a future reinstall.
Cancel the free trial from your Adobe account to avoid charges (sign in at account.adobe.com/plans, select Manage plan, then Cancel your plan).
Keep your project folder on the Desktop so you can reopen the .indd file later.

Delete - I don't want to use this again

Remove InDesign and all project files from your computer. This frees up disk space and stops any future billing.

Open the Creative Cloud desktop app.
Go to Apps > All Apps.
Find InDesign, click the three-dots icon (More actions), and select Uninstall.
When prompted, select Remove to delete all app preferences and settings.
Cancel the free trial from your Adobe account to stop billing. Sign in at account.adobe.com/plans, select Manage plan, then select Cancel your plan and confirm cancellation.
Delete your project folder from the Desktop. Open File Explorer, navigate to your Desktop, right-click the project folder, and select Delete.

Nice Work!

You just designed a professional beauty magazine spread from scratch in Adobe InDesign. Your 4-page layout for Glow Magazine is exported, print-ready, and portfolio-worthy.

Here's what you learned:

Built a 4-page magazine spread with a full-bleed cover, multi-column interior layout, placed images with text wrapping, and a styled back cover.
Created and applied paragraph and character styles for consistent editorial typography that updates across every page in one click.
Exported a print-ready PDF with bleeds and crop marks suitable for commercial printing.
(Secret Mission) Set up parent pages with automatic page numbers and a running header that scales to any page count.

Ready to quiz yourself?