Creating your masterpiece

1. Select your magazine template from the Choose Magazine section and click on the create now link for your magazine. Save the PDF file using your name in the title for easy identification.
   
2. Open the PDF file in the latest FREE version of Adobe Reader and:

   • Add your words to the text fields tabbing between boxes to overtype the sample the text.

   • Rename your images offline to match the names on each page.

3. Send the completed PDF file along with your images to us via the Upload order page.

4. Blue Friesian will create your magazine and email a draft copy for your review/approval.

Notes:

• The amount of text you can enter in each box is limited. Hover over each box to show the limit. Older versions of Adobe Reader or your web browser PDF viewer may remove your text if you try to enter too many characters. Please click here for the latest FREE version of Adobe Reader.

• The text you enter on the PDF pages is not formatted and will not look like your final printed magazine. The magazine created by Blue Friesian will be formatted correctly. To review how the magazine will look when printed, please view the Reference PDF pages as shown on:

  • page 2 of the PDF file for covers/single pages.
  • the separate Reference PDF file (shown next to the CREATE NOW links) for 8 and 12 page magazines.

Everyone does it differently but here are a few recommendations:

• Make contact: Once you know you are going to start a magazine, drop us a quick email and advise your time frames. We have many customers who need a very quick turnaround and it helps our planning if we know what is coming!
  
• Planning your creation: Spend some time up front planning your magazine and perhaps sketch a quick outline per page. Note: some customers find it easier to receive an updated version of their magazine featuring their images in place before they start updating their text. We are happy to work with you in stages.
• Adobe Reader: Please use the latest version of Adobe Reader to edit/update your template - it’s free!
• Image quality: We strongly recommend a resolution of 300dpi and a file size of 1mb+ for each image. Small, low res, 72 dpi images will not enlarge well. We will notify you of any concerns we may have.
• Trust us: we love what we do and we love helping customers create their unique gift. We will work with you to ensure your images look the very best they can and we may tweak our templates to work with your content e.g. sometimes you really want to feature a landscape photograph but the template features a portrait box.

Click here for general information on timeframes, payment, printing etc.