Front Cover

For my front cover i began by designing two mastheads, i made two so that i would have a choice.

After looking at both and their pros and cons, i went with the second masthead. I made this choice because I believe that the second one showed more imagination, I designed it in the style of a London road sign, and although i realise that the paper is not local for london I thought that it was a good idea as it showed that in my magazine I would not be unimaginative. I then created a rough guide for my layout by looking at a newspaper which i though was set out well, i then traced over it so i had guidelines.

I then proceeded to add my masthead to an a4 page.

I then added boxes and a headline so to set my layout so that i would not keep referring back to the guidelines i had made. I put a rectangle under the masthead and broke it up into three sections where i would put information about articles inside the paper. I put a grey box to he left of the page where i would put one small article and an advert, i used a grey background so that the page would not look boring and there would be an obvious space between that article and the main one. I also put another box where there will be an advert.

I now built around this template, adding an image to go with the main headline, along with text.

The picture was one taken on holiday, it is large and bright, so to draw attention to the newspaper. The font of the text was different to that of the masthead and the headline, this is because it would add some variety and make it less boring. I then added an advert at the bottom of the page with a picture of a friend at a nightclub. I also added another advert for a local hair salon with a picture of a friend of mine. I also filled the grey box with an article and a picture of my friends in a nightclub.

I then added text to the three boxes underneath the masthead.

I chose to use red lettering so it would match the red part of the masthead, it would also make the page a little more interesting. I felt that the text on its own in the boxes seemed a bit unimaginative so i added pictures to add colour and fill up the white spaces which looked quite unprofessional. For the picture in the box on the right i decided to put a picture that was too big for the box so it would fill the space in the top right hand corner, the picture is effectively a silhouette which i made using the polygonal lasso tool, i took this photo at a fashion and art exhibition that i attended. I also added a barcode to the bottom right hand of the page.

My front cover was now completed, i believe that it looks professional and readable. This is because of the use of colours, font, and the simple layout.

Research

For this project i will be designing parts of a local newspaper. Therefore i have decided to analyse a number of different newspapers to get an idea of content to use and how to design the paper.

Firstly i will look at the differences between local and national papers, and broadsheets and tabloid papers. This is because in my opinion, local newspapers and their design/layout are more comparable to tabloids, not broadsheets.

Broadsheet Front Page

This is the front cover of 'The Guardian', this is a well established broadsheet newspaper. It sticks to the main codes and conventions of abroadsheet paper;
1. The text is small and covers most of the page.
2. The text is a serif style (where the letters are more defined than normal san serif fonts)
3. The images on the page do not take up more than half of the page
However, this broadsheet is slightly different to most, this is because of the use of colour. Most papers of this style use minimal colour and the masthead is in a plain serif font, The Guardian has used a more modern art style. This may be to draw in a wider range of readers or perhaps to just set them apart from its competitors.

I believe that this newspapers target audience is the middle to upper class, or those who are relatively well educated. This is because of the size of the text and the picture to text ratio; the fact that there is a lot of small text may put off those who do not have a very good education as it may look challenging to read.

Tabloid Front Page

This is the front page of The Sun, arguably the most popular tabloid newspaper in Britain. It clearly differs to the cover of The Guardian, it follows the codes and conventions of tabloids;

1. These papes are often dubbed 'red-tops' this is due to the fact that almost all of their mastheads are white in a red background. This is often the case in tabloid newspapers because it helps them stand out amongst the broadsheets.
2. The use of colour on the front pages is also very obvious, they use normally reds and blues as they stand out very well against white backgrounds.3. For the main feature, there is not alot of text, normally the

re is a large picture with the first paragraph of the article which continues inside the paper. The font in the text is larger than that of a broadsheet
I believe that the target audience is the working class or those who do n

ot have a particularly good education, this is because it looks like it should be an easy read due to the picture to text ratio, the size of the text and the colours used.

Local Newspaper Front Page

This is the front page of the local newspaper in southend.

The front cover bares obvious similarities in the codes and conventions to that of a tabloid newspaper. The similarities are as followed;

1. The primary colours of the masthead and

other larger text is blue and red.

2. The Cover image takes up a large fraction of the page.

3. The text in the article is larger than that of a broadsh

eet.

4. The main headline is as big as the masthead.

5. The advert is for a local establishment.

6. The main article is about a local event that probably wouldn't get into any national papers.

One thing to note would be the fact that although the text size of the headline is as large of the masthead, like a tabloid, the papers are not very similar. This is mainly

down to the fact that the news is obviously local, there is just one article shown and the inside features are not advertised on the cover.

For my front cover, i will base mine on the tabloid. This is because my newsp

aper will be aimed at a younger audience, the age range will be 18-30. I will be using quite bold font, colours and not make the layout too rigid as it would not attract as many buyers as a tabloid based layout.

I will now look at the websites for these newspapers.

Guardian Website

The page is broken up into a number of sections using square shapes and red lines. The articles have a small headline with text to go along with it underneath. Most of the headlines also have a photo to accompany them. This website is well laid out, making it easy to read.This is the website for the guardian. The first th

ing that i noticed was the use of colours, in my opinion this causes he viewer to believe that there is a variety of content on the website.

The Sun Website

The first thing that i noticed about this website page is that the main picture takes up a larger section, as does the accompanying headline. This may be due to the fact that it seems like it will be an easier read. Like the guardian website, there are also smaller articles with pictures to go with them. This page does not use as many colours as the guardian, the main colour is red, as is the newspaper.

The Echo website

The local website is a lot simpler than the other two. There is still one main picture and article, with other smaller ones below. The main difference is that there is bigger spacing between the paragraphs and in the lettering, suggesting that there is less information on the site.

The codes and conventions that i noted for newspaper websites are;

1.Masthead from newspaper positioned at the top with menu below.

2. One main Picture with a brief description of the article to accompany it.

3. A number of smaller articles and pictures below the main one.

4. Articles broken up into squares, the page is set out in a linear way.

For my website, i will combine the styles of the tabloid website and the local website, hoping to appeal to a younger age group. I will use one or two primary colours, use one main picture with a description, and have a number of other articles underneath.

My Intent

What do I intend to produce?

For this Media A2 module, I have been asked to produce pages for a local newspaper, and a website to accompany it.

Who is the intended audience for my product?

I have decided to produce a newspaper aimed at students and young adults. I will do this by basing the newspaper around news that the target will be interested, for example I will include articles about events such as events such as club nights and concerts.

How does this product differ to others?

I believe that there is a gap in the market for such a newspaper, this is because most local newspapers are aimed at the local people with no particular target audience or specific content. There are very few newspapers for young adults, publications which do have this target audience are often in the format of a magazine. This project will differ to other existing products as it will have a specific content focus and audience target.

How will I allocate my time?

We have 3 hours of coursework lessons a week, I will also allocate another 2-4 hours a week to ensure that I complete the task with sufficient time.
The first project that I will complete will be the research folder, this is where I will look at existing local and national newspapers and websites to find the codes and conventions to help me with my main products. I will try and complete this within three weeks.
I will then go about designing the newspaper, as I will have done my research and taken photographs whilst completing the research folder, therefore this part of the module should take around 8-10 weeks to complete fully.
With the remaining few weeks I will touch up on the design to make it look as professional, i will also produce an evaluation for my blog with a guide to the module and why I made certain decisions and how I produced it.