CONTENTS PAGE STATEMENT OF INTENT

WHAT layout will you be using for your contents page (This relates to the use of COLUMNS and GRIDS in planning your

Contents Page layout) and WHY?

• For my contents page, I would be using a layout which includes a large column on the second column which is similar to a lot of the magazines I have researched but I would slightly transgress the conventions of the contents page by including two supporting images which will sit inside the column with an insight as to what the picture is about. I would be using grids on InDesign to define my contents page layout and this would be also to separate my cover stories on the right from the main image on the left accurately. On the first column of the contents page, there would be another column which would include the main image which will be a larger photo than the two supporting images on the second column and beneath it would lie miscellaneous features such as horoscopes, quizzes, galleries and crosswords and minor stories which will be hip-hop related in a box. My masthead would sit on the top of the page and would be bordered of and possibly in a different coloured box so to the colours used on the rest of the page so that the different colours could appeal more to the audience.

• I think the use of having three images on the contents page is useful and is a bright way of catching the audiences attention as some people would rather see images of how a person may look like, what they are wearing in terms of jewellery or designer clothes and their facial expressions rather containing a lot of text which will be off-putting to many of my target audience due to the background they’re coming from which is a predominantly working class background who are not academically established or who are still pending on their education.

WHAT codes and conventions will you be using from your CONTENTS PAGE RESEARCH and WHY?

• I would be using codes and conventions which I learnt form the contents page I researched but I would also subvert these conventions and be different In designing the contents. The conventions of a contents page I would be including are an image to preview who would be a big feature in one of the articles (which would be supported with captions and page numbers), page numbers so the readers would be able to navigate easily to their specific cover story they are interested in the most, the title of the masthead would be at the top of the page which underneath would include the text marked “CONTENTS” which would be the largest font used on the page.

• The conventions of the contents page that I’m subverting are how many images are being used on the front page. I’m going to try and add three images. On the first column I’m going to place my main image which will be the largest of the three images and on the second column, I am go to place the two supporting images which would be under the heading marked “What’s to come”. My contents page would not include a plain background but would have a certain colour which might just probably be grey so that the audience would see the contents page as being slightly effective as grey is not the brightest of colours but does show a page fill which is slightly eye-catching.

• The heading marked “features” would sit beneath the main image and the minor stories and miscellaneous topics would sit under this heading. The heading would be in a black or red box which would look good on a grey bacground.

WHAT type of images, graphics (i.e. Boxes, borders and rules) will you be using to make your Contents Page easy to navigate by your target audience and WHY?

• I would be using three images on the contents page which will be a break of convention seeing as the contents pages I have researched contains one main image only. I’m going to position my main image on the first column and the two supporting images on the second column which will be smaller than the main image. The main image would consist of a brief cover story and a large folio so it will be more visible for the reader to pick out and because the text is going to sit on the picture, space on the contents page would be conserved slightly as the text would not be sitting underneath the main image. The two supporting images would contain a folio and a cover story which will sit in a box beneath it and would then be followed by a list of reviews. On top of the supporting images, a box will state “What's to come?” which the supporting images stories and reviews will review. Having more than one image on the contents page will grab my target audience’s attention as we have a better eye for viewing images than reading a piece of text and also a picture paints a thousand words so the reader could figure out what the images represent. The photo credit would also be present.

• At the top of the contents page there would be a box which will include “THE PAR’s” corporate identity and would include the word “CONTENTS”. The background colour would be grey which will probably mean that the bodycopy would be black which is a combination of colours which will be easy for the reader to see. The colour of the folio would be red and as this is a bright colour which is easily seen on a grey background and would alarm my target audience making it easy to navigate to the pages where the articles are on.

• I would use rules to neatly separate the first column and the second column and to separate my supporting images from each other so the reader would not get muddled up and think the page is scruffy and have no organisation. This is going to be done to make my contents page look attractive.

WHAT image shot types will you be using for your Contents Page and WHY will they appeal to your potential target audience?

• The content of the article could be represented by the image shot types on the contents page. If I used a low angle shot, my target audience would see the artist as having some sort of status, that they are powerful and have authority which are common connotations of rappers within the hip-hop genre. This makes a low-angle shot a great shot for me to adopt.

• However, the predominant shot types I would be using for my contents page would be a medium close-up shot as it shows you a slight fraction of the background which makes the person the real focus of the image. The other elements we identify in medium close-up shots are the persons emotional state which is gathered through their facial expressions. If the facial expressions link with the cover story, the audience would possibly think that the article which is going to be based on the image will be interesting and reflecting on how the artist lives or used to live or if the artist is serious or not. Medium close-up would appeal to my target audience as they could see some of the clothes and accessories the artist is wearing and their emotions which paints a lot of pictures.

Image of the hip-hop group D.O.N.S which will be one of the supporting image

The girl group The Cheetah Girls would be another supporting image mainly appealing the male crowd

Maim image of the rapper MT

WHAT stories will you be including in your Contents Page and HOW will they be related to the images?

• I would try to relate the stories on the contents page with the images via the facial expressions and postures shown by the artists. For instance, one of my supporting images I would be using would include three artists who are smiling which means that they are elated or that they are celebrating something. A suitable story I would include would read “On to the next one”. The audience would know that from this story, the group D.O.N.S have previously done something successful and are ready to progress to another level. My target audience could also assume that the group has been signed or that hey are releasing a gold or a platinum album. The image of the three artists smiling shows that they have done something to be proud of which will easily relate to the cover story I have chosen.

• Another story I would be including in my contents page would state “The Cheetah girls” and this would be related to my second supporting image as two brothers would be the focus of the image. The audience would be intrigued by the story as the groups name possibly represents their behaviour which they might evoke in the article based on the story. The images which is related to the story includes three glamorous girls which will attract the male audience rather than the females as they could be physically attracted to the “Cheetah girls” and would possibly see them as models Instead of rap artistes.

• My main cover story would state “A MESSAGE TO THE FALLEN SOLDIERS” and this would be followed with a small caption which gives a little insight of what the story is about. The image I will be using is a medium shot of an artist who would be placing their hands together in a prayer sort of manner which will create a sense of faith towards a higher being in which he is paying his respect to his friends who have recently departed.

WHAT do you want these images to tell your audience and WHY?

• I want these images to tell my target audience that there is a lot of young striving real success in the hip-hop industry and that there is some artist of have already peaked at an early age. My target audience would feel that the images on the contents page relates to them as they are of the same age group which the artists are on and could possibly feel motivated because of that. I want these images to tell my target audience that the magazine will be featuring vibrant stories for example, the image of the Cheetah Girls features different colours red, white, black and purple/blue which illustrates a vibrant image so will depict a vibrant story.

• My main image will tell my audience that there is a sense of peace and hope in the image due to the body language shown by the rap artist. The audience would feel that the artist is trying to change or is trying to respect someone whether it is God or if he is paying homage to someone he has lost through death or relationship-wise which the audience would take rather seriously. This image would also be backed up with the story which relates to it as it say “A MESSAGE TO THE FALLEN SOLDIERS” which shows that he is respecting his friends who have died recently.

• Another supporting image I’ll be using which of the hip-hop group D.O.N.S would tell the audience as discussed before that they have done something successful in possibly achieving something which is music related. The story which is included “On to the next one” justifies the image as they have previously achieved “something” so they are getting ready to go to the next platform.

WHAT colours will you be using and WHY?

• My background colour of the contents page will be grey which is the same colour of my background on my front cover page. I’m making my background colour grey so that the colour of the text could be black and read easily whilst the colour red which I’ll be using for the boxes could coordinate successfully and will also give a serious approach as to the level of content distributed by the hip-hop genre. The box which the masthead and “contents” will be sitting on will be red to keep the corporate identity notable and would also keep the sense of danger or blood as the theme of the contents. Beneath this box, another box called “what's to come” would appear making the box distinct from the contents box and this would be in black to spark the difference between the two boxes. There would be another box which will label “features” and this would sit beneath the main image.

• The colour scheme is going to be primarily grey, red and black which are three colours that’ll combine well together in creating a product that will attract teenagers and young adults who are looking to read something with a strong level of content hence the reason colours such as pink or yellow were are not going to be used as they are bright colours which would suit a females gossip magazine. If the background colour grey was left by itself, the audience would find the contents page quite dull as that is the connotations of the colour grey so I added red because it is quite bright but fierce which will give life to the page.

WHAT essential information will be included in your Contents Page and WHY?

• My contents page will include features of all the top stories which are related to the hip-hop scene in the UK or which are related to the hip-hop genre. The folios would be in the colour red to make it easy for the reader to navigate to and the features would be easy to read with a clear and short description of what stories are going to appear in the articles. The reviews box would be ruled of beneath the supporting images so the can be separated and then a list or a box would contain all the reviews which will be appearing inside the magazine.

• Other minor information which will be included in the contents page are horoscopes, quizzes, galleries and crosswords and it would tell you what pages you could find them on. This would be all hip-hop related and would sit at the bottom of the page as it will be seen as less important especially as the target audience I’m attracting are young adults and teenagers who are interested in reading the magazine to find out more about the hip-hop scene rather than play games.

WHAT type of fonts and font sizes (style of lettering used) will you be using for your Contents Page and WHY?

• The font I’m going to use for my contents title will be “Impact” since I have used it successfully on my front cover page in creating a serious affect and my main target audience would take the font seriously and in doing so take the contents page seriously. In keeping the title in the font style “impact” the corporate identity will be kept and the reader would know that the contents page is associated with THE PAR magazine as that is the main font. Wherever the impact font is used, a swatch would be used to make the text come of the background to give an eye-catching affect.

• The main cover stories would also be in “impact” as it stands out and appeals to the reader because the font is bold and I would be using a stroke to surround the text so it could come off the page slightly and appeal to the reader. The rest of the text which are linked to the cover stories or are beneath the features list would be in either an “arial rounded”, “arial black” or an “arial narrow” font so that the reader would find it is easy to read plus taking the font stories seriously because if the font was more fancy it would possibly be attract children rather than young adults and teenagers.

• The font size for title of the contents page would be one of the largest piece of text on the page so the reader could be able to realise that they are on the contents page. The main cover story on the main image of the contents would also be in a large font size so the readers would notice this story will be the most important story of the contents page with the stories relating to the supporting images being in a smaller but noticeable font size making my target audience know that the stories are less important to the main cover story. All the minor features would probably be within the font size 11-14 since the stories are of no real importance but will be in a clear font type so the readers will be able to navigate to the pages quickly and easily.

CONTENTS