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