Think column design is boring? Here are 7 great magazine layouts that ALL use column design. And they are definitely not boring! (Thanks to BestDesignOptions.com for collecting these and posting them on their blog.)

I love the use of the color red on this one. If I was going to turn this into a yearbook layout, I would turn the red block on the left page into a sidebar and fill the red bar on the right page with photos.

I love how they combined the letters with the photo boxes, so that the photos flow off the photos into the shape of the letters. You can do this in InDesign by first changing your text into an outline and then combining the outline of the text with the photo box (with both objects selected, click object -> paths -> make compound path) to create one uniquely-shaped photo box.

Nice use of color.

I like the headline text here. When coming up with a theme, you should have a verbal and a visual theme. A lot of schools think a visual theme must be some kind of graphic, but it could also be in the way you design your text.

Again, I really like how the text was designed on the left side.

I like how the rest of the page is in neat columns, but the torn orange paper breaks that up, allowing for the headline to be slanted as well.

I really like how all the elements are within the columns, but the graphics cross over to give the layout more visual appeal. Also love the folio design.