What have you learned about magazine design and the way it communicates meaning? 

There are various principles that constitute structural aspects of magazine design and have to be taken into account in order to produce a successful magazine layout.

The front cover is what you come across first "you skim the newsstand; take in the brilliant colours, the gripping cover lines, the clever or intriguing or outlandish photographs" King, S. (2001). It is crucial that it's eye catching, provocative and grabs the attention of the consumer. NME always does so, with a large image of the feature image, a strong logo of the magazine name and includes information on other reviews and features. You can see all of these attributes clearly to the left... "The golden rule for any front page should be 80% image to 20% type"

You need to judge how to balance your layout, looking at the arrangement of the objects such as text and imagery, and judging the composition of visual weight. This can be done by looking at images and judging them against the physical structure of each individual page. You can do this in a symmetrical fashion, mirroring the pages, or balancing it out asymmetrically, which is where you place several smaller objects on one side but balance it out with one larger object. This can also affect proportion, whether or not text over balances images and how as a whole, all parts of the composition fit together.

You can see to the right here how Q magazine has used a large strong imagery on the right and page and balanced it out with the majority of the text on the left, thus giving balance.

Visual weight of a composition determines the dominance of certain items upon the page, it establishes perspective and often gives direction of where the eye is to look first and follow after. You also need establish a fluid flow throughout your magazine. A steady rhythm creates a sense of movement amongst the magazine and meshes pages together, establishing pattern and texture and allows for consistency that makes it easier for the readers to understand and follow. 

The overall principle is that of unity; this is where all the individual components of the page come together a bring a sense of wholeness, or alternatively bring in variety amongst the pages. These elements are essential within the music press and those that read it ultimately are lovers of music. Now, it's near impossible to put music into words and actually impossible to put music on a page! Therefore the way in which we design and put together a piece of text is crucial. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

King, S (2001). Magazine design that works. Rockport Publishers

http://hubpages.com/hub/Design-a-magazine---The-Basic-Pinciples