WEEK 3- Layouts

After my research I did mock up templates of how most magazines are layed out using Indesign to create them and power point to save them as pictures. I looked at which ones are effective, why they are effective and then chose which ones I would like to use for my newspaper. I chose the third template because  I felt it had everything that would draw audiences to it, such as teasers etc. Even better because I did these layouts in in design i gained more practice.

This is the layout I will be using for my newspaper, I chose this layout because it has many parts to it which will draw the readers attention to it immediately. The nameplate like every other newspaper is placed at the top of the newspaper, this is because it is the first part that the reader would see as it is at the top. Next the dateline along with the sales information and website is placed underneath. The headline is also placed quite high because that is also what is selling the newspaper.The teaser which gives the audience a taster is placed at the left hand side of the paper. Although throughout my research I noticed the teaser on most croydon newspapers is placed at the top hand side of the newspaper, immediately after the nameplate. I decided not to do this because I felt it did not correspond well with the layout that I wanted and also I wanted more focus on my major headline and nameplate.

This is a montage of local newspapers that i have researched about. As you can see the main newspaper incorporated into this moodboared is “Croydon Guardian”. This was due to the fact that, I would like to follow the conventions of this local newspaper because it’s based in the same area as my newspaper and both have the same target audience. I felt researching Croydon Guardian the most would influence the things I have inside my newspaper, it will not only give me a better understanding of the things i should have in it  but how to make it appealing to my  audience. I also incorporated pictures of my Target audience in my moodboared. I will be able to refer back to this moodboared when making my own newspaper as I can look at the way colour is used on newspapers, the layouts and also how the editor manages to create a hierarchy between different components of the newspaper.

WEEK 2 - The research

Entry

Research

So far I have been looking at different local newspapers (tabloid). I did not only do my research through the use of media technologies such as search engines and homepages of newspapers, but I have also collected a few newspapers and have analysed them and what makes them successful, what they have in common and what are different about them.  I then deconstructed the newspaper, by analysing and researching on why certain things have been done. For example why the main headline is written in bold fonts. This is because the headline is what is selling the newspaper, so having it written in bold fonts draws the reader’s attention to it thus persuading them to buy  or read the paper. Although I looked at different layouts of local newspapers, I stayed with the same newspaper which was “Croydon Guardian” and “Croydon Advertiser” because that was the borough in which my newspaper was based in, and I felt sticking with a local newspaper which has similar things in common with mine would be effective as I would gain more information on why certain things are done the way they are. For example I noticed that the font colour for the nameplate was blue, and through my research of the area and what goes on there I noticed that it was done because the whitgift centre, the tourist attraction of Croydon is blue which was why the nameplate was blue. Also  through my research I found out that the adverts incorporated in local newspapers are  not as diverse as those for national newspapers as local newspapers do not have a wider audience. The adverts are chosen to suit the specific audience. So for example, for my preliminary task, i advertised Barclays as one of my front page adverts this went against the normal conventions of local newspapers and did not work effectively as it showed I did not only put my target audience into consideration but also that I am not advertising things that are meant to be in local newspapers such as upcoming events, window cleaners, mini cabs  and houses which are on sale in the area etc. Below are examples of the newspapers and websites I looked at and went on.

websites of where i got my images from

http://www.croydonguardian.co.uk/

http://www.thisiscroydontoday.co.uk/

Through out my research I noticed that emotive language was used a lot in main headlines followed by a picture which has a caption underneath to give more information. I noticed that times new roman is a popular text used as it’s very formal and easy to read.  Despite being  local newspapersi noticed  that it followed the conventions of a national newspaper which was  that the background of the paper is a darkish white this is effective as it makes the text written on the newspaper stand out from the page. Also i noticed that there were teasers on the front page. This is to wet the audience appetite and give them a taste of what is in the paper. Although the main headline is what sells the newspaper, i feel the teasers can also sell the newspaper, because through my research there were some teasers that made me want to read the newspapers.Teasers can be put anywhere on the front page, either below the name plate or in the side bar which is mostly on the left hand side. I used the internet for my research.

 

WEEK 1

For the summer project i constructed a mock up of a newspaper, using the existing knowledge I have on newspapers. This was almost like a preliminary task before I start doing my proper newspaper. Through this task I managed to gain a rough idea of how I would like my newspaper to look like. Where I would like features to be and why. I created my newspaper (front page and contents page) using Adobe Indesingn, this helped me layout my newspaper and arrange the components that make a successful front page such as nameplate, headline and teasers unto the front page.  I used indesign because it was the software used by many media companies to create their newspapers because it has multiple designs such as the selection tool which helped me move and re size things (images, captions, headlines) about on the page, the preview mode tool was effective as i could look at how my newspaper really looked without the guidelines. I noticed, I followed  media conventions, as I had a nameplate, headline, sub headlines, captions and many more.  The target audience i chose for this newspaper were parents and elderly people 16+, i chose this age group because i felt the newspaper will be more beneficial to them as they would actually read it, for example parents would read my newspaper in order to find out upcoming events in the area that their child could attend or where they could gain support from such as after school clubs for their children so they can go work etc. However, I noticed that my newspaper wasn't suitable for that age group as it was heavily embed ed with headlines regarding  teenagers and pictures of them. Articles on the rise in  A level grades along with pictures of teenagers in the article "A Star Dies" all emphasize this point. I  followed media conventions of a local newspaper by having a teaser near the nameplate, in order to give the readers a taster of what will be in the paper. I had a dateline which also had the price and website of the newspaper, which informed the audience how to get soft copies of the paper by going on the website and viewing on the archives and also the price of them. Also, I advertised Barclays in my paper, this was not effective as those kind of adverts are used mainly for national papers because it is for a broad audience any where in the country however local papers should have adverts which will suite people in the area so for example my newspaper being based in Croydon, I could have had adverts such as events going on in the Whitgift centre, or house sales. Finally, I noticed that the name of my magazine does not inform the audience about where it is based and I felt this was not effective, however the  red background i placed behind the name plate made my newspaper unique making it easier for my target audience to recognize it. Although  my second page is not finished, i noticed that with more research it would come together very well. I noticed that the advert used this time unlike that of my first page was very effective as it appealed to those in the area who will be reading the paper. Also my headline was sharp and abrupt thus persuading the readers to read it. The headline does not really inform you much, this i felt was effective as it would make my target audience very inquisitive.





I used indesign to put this newspaper together