The document discusses the codes and conventions the author will use for their contents page for a Reggae music magazine. They will use dividers and numbering to organize sections and link images to corresponding text. They will also highlight important words in red to draw attention. Images will be rotated at a 45 degree angle with a black cannabis leaf behind for emphasis. Stories featured will relate to Reggae and Caribbean culture, and prominently feature the main cover story about an up-and-coming Reggae artist. The same color scheme of red, gold, and green used on the cover will be used to connect the contents page visually to the genre of Reggae music.

1. By Tesfah Watkins-Scott

2. WHAT codes and conventions will you be
using from your CONTENTS PAGE
RESEARCH and WHY?
For my contents page I will be using many codes and conventions so that this section also
appeals to my target audience and does not get out-shined by my front cover and double
page spread. First of all, for the text of my contents page I will be using dividers which are
like subheadings to organise my text in different sections to allow the contents page to be
helpful to my audience. Also, I will be numbering the 3 images that I will be using to
support the text that will go with the image which will also be numbered with the same
digits as the image to allow the reader to notice that that specific image and that part of the
text are linked together. This will cause the reader to read a small sentence about that
particular article and draw them in to actually turn to that page and read some more of the
magazine. Furthermore, for the text of the contents page I will be highlighting the main
words in the text of the page to emphasise to the reader that they actually need to read this
part of the text and hopefully this will draw them in. Also, using that specific technique I
will use the colour red to highlight that part of the sentence because, conventionally the
colour red signals importance and because it is quite bright the reader will definitely find it
appealing. Moreover, for the layout of my contents page I will be using columns to allow the
contents page to look well structured and organised even though it is very conventional
but, I feel that it will speak out more to the audience rather than using a layout that is
unique yet very busy on the page to make the contents page look like a poster or a leaflet.
Lastly, I will also be linking my contents page with my front cover for the Reggae music
magazine by placing the same masthead used on the front cover on the contents page also
however much smaller so that the audience is not distracted and unfocused about the other
codes and conventions that I have used for my contents page.

3. 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?
For my contents page I will be using columns to allow my contents page to have a
strong and structured layout. I may emphasise the columns by highlighting the
specific sections to make each column which will present to the audience that this
particular magazine has not been rushed, instead it has been produced carefully.
Also, the layout of the contents page will be that in the top left hand side of the page
is where the mast head and a main image for the contents page will be located. Then
underneath this the 1st column will begin with the text stating what page every article
will be on. Then on the top right of the contents page another column will be
assembled to continue the page numbers of the different articles. And
finally, underneath that column 2 images will be used to link in with the text of the
contents page. Furthermore, for the two images located underneath the column I
have thought about rotating the images about 45 degrees which I feel would be quite
unique, but also I have had an idea to put a pitch black cannabis leaf behind each of
the two images which I feel will allow both images to stand out just as much as the
larger image used for the contents page.

4. WHAT stories will you be including in your
Contents Page and HOW will they be related to
the images? the main stories and articles that I will be including for the
For my contents page
contents page won’t only just relate to Reggae, instead I will involve stories that
link to other sections of the Caribbean and African culture. For instance one story
that I will be mentioning is about a reader creating their very own Reggae song for
a competition which will allow them if they win to have there very own song
played at the 2012 Notting Hill Carnival on the 28th and 29th of August. Also for
this specific story I have taken a picture from when I was at the carnival in 2011. I
will use this particular image and type the number that links with the text for this
article on the page in, in bold letters in maybe a bright colour so that it will stand
out to the reader and tell them that that specific image is linked with the specific
article. Also one of the main stories that I will be including in the contents page
links in with the main image and the main cover line that is on the front cover of
the ‘Reggae Beats’ magazine. This story will be about a brand new and upcoming
reggae artist who is becoming a legend himself just like his idol ‘Bob Marley’. I
have done this because it is going to be the main article of the whole magazine so I
will end up mentioning the article on the front cover, contents page and also the
double page spread. This will specifically tell the reader that the main objective of
the magazine is about Reggae music and also that this particular Reggae artist is
one of the main topics in the music industry for this particular music genre.

5. WHAT colour scheme (shades, tints and
colours) will you be using and WHY?
The colour scheme that I will be using for the contents page of my Reggae
magazine will follow the same colour scheme as the front cover which is the colours
red, gold (yellow) and green. The reasons for using these particular colours is
because the three colours link in straight away with the genre of Reggae due to
where this type of music was created and also these colours will speak out to the
target audience as soon as they see the contents page, letting the audience know
that the magazine is going to be based on a Caribbean/African subject or the actual
theme which is Reggae music. Furthermore, another reason why I will be using
these colours is because, they are quite bright and eye catching colours which will
be attractive to the audience, instead of using three dull types of colours which
would make the contents page seem quite dull, boring and also will not tell the
reader anything about the particular genre of music.

6. HOW will you make your Contents Page easy for
your audience to find the major cover story or
other stories?
Due to the research I have done of different types of contents pages, I have found out that
there are many ways to make specific sections of the contents page stand out more than
others. And in this case for my contents page I would like important parts of the text to be
much more appealing to the audience so that they view the important parts of the
contents page and do not get distracted by something else. One technique that I have
picked up on is using more than one font to make a certain part of the text stand out.
However, I feel that this particular technique will make the actual contents page look
quite busy and congested because it will look as if more than three fonts are being used
on the whole page. Although, another technique that could be used could be to change
the font size of the important section like an important cover line. But, I feel that also this
would be quite a struggle because if only a section of the font is quite large it will make
the whole body of the text look quite irregular and also it will be difficult to use the
guidelines and columns on In Design because the columns would look quite irregular due
to the text not being the same sized font. On the other hand there is one technique that
has caught my eye. This technique basically highlights the important section of the text in
a different colour from the actual text. The reason why this is my favourite technique is
because, the fact that you can change the colour of the text to signal is important and still
allow the text to link in with the actual colour scheme of the whole magazine or just the
contents page.

7. WHAT type of fonts and font sizes (style of lettering
used) will you be using for your Contents Page and
WHY?
For my contents page I am thinking about using this
particular font for the subheadings that will be seen in
the contents page. The reasons for this is because the
font ‘321 Impact’ I feel is very bold and will catch the
readers attention automatically. Also, compared with
the font that I have used for the masthead for the front
cover of my magazine this font is pretty similar. Like the
other font ‘321 Impact’ also has a few indents in the font
like the rocky type of font used for my masthead.
However, this particular font looks much more street
and urban which will have a great effect on my target
audience. This is because my target audience even
though it is very broad are mainly going to be from
urban communities because that’s where the reggae
genre was really created, in ethnic areas.

8. WHAT type of fonts and font sizes (style of lettering
used) will you be using for your Contents Page and
WHY?
I have also thought about using this particular
font called ‘Stencil’ for my contents page.
However, I feel that this font should only be
used for the dividers because I feel that this font
would be to thick and bold to be used as normal
text so I will use the ‘Impact’ font for the actual
text. I feel that this font will be very effective
when used for the dividers because, all the
characters will be in capital which will instantly
catch the target audiences eye, and also if the
font size is increased to be much larger than the
actual text the audience will look at the dividers
first.