Bauer Media's Q will be the first music magazine to be produced in the 242x187mm format, which is about 15% smaller and will be available for three months from June, with the July edition to coincide with the music festival season.

St Ives already prints the standard format version of Q at its Roche plant, which will also handle the covers and binding work for the travel-sized edition. However, the text for the three issues will be printed at St Ives' Andover facility, which the printer has put up for closure.

NatMags is also due to start a six-month trial of the travel-sized Good Housekeeping magazine. The publisher can claim to having been one of the earliest pioneers of the smaller format – the magazine was printed in a reduced size during the Second World War due to paper shortages.

Its travel edition will be a perfect-bound 229x170mm magazine with a 150gsm cover and 70gsm text. It will be printed at Polestar Chantry.

As with Q, the trial is being run to coincide with the holiday season and to appeal to those looking for collectors' editions.

The smaller format has proved a popular choice for many magazines, with Glamour going compact in 2001, and more recently FHM making a travel-sized edition available in May 2008, followed by Men's Health, Stuff and T3.