Summer Work Assignment Rationale
5. The first two pages of a new local newspaper, together with both of the following:
- A poster for the newspaper,
- Two hyperlinked pages from the paper’s website.
For the summer assignment I decided to use a red, black, white and a pale blue as my colour scheme as newspapers usually use a black and white colour scheme and so I decided to use the other two colours to make some parts of the texts stand out against the rest of the text. I decided to stick to primary colours for my work as this is what they usually use for real life newspapers, because if I changed the colour palette my target audience (who are 15-45 year olds) may become unsure of who it is meant to be aimed at, which in turn will make it less likely that people will buy it.
For the layout of my website pages I decided to research other existing newspaper websites such as The Sun, The Sunday Times, The Daily Mirror and The Sunday Times so that my flat plans would be similar to what they are meant to look like. For the layout of my poster for the newspaper I again researched existing posters, to see what colours I should use, what layout I should use, what style of text I should use and what size fonts I should use. For my local newspaper I decided to look on existing papers such as the Sunderland Echo as it is one of my local newspapers so that I was able to find out what the layout should be, what colour schemes I should use, what style fonts I should use, and how to make pieces of text and images stand out against the rest of the pages. By doing this research I was able to find out what my target audience (who are 15-45year olds) liked so that when it comes to making my product they will like its layout.
I framed my newspaper by using text, photos and colours so that the main article would stand out against the other articles. For my website I again used colours, images, text and different style fonts to make each piece of text stand out in its own unique way. For my poster for the newspaper I decided to use colours and different sizes of text to make each individual piece of text stand out against the rest of the poster. I have noticed that this is the way they frame existing products in real life and so I decided to do this style of framing as it will draw my target audience (who are 15-45 year olds) to my product.
For my products I also plan to use images that link to the text to go along with my text as this is what they do in existing newspapers and newspaper websites as it draws the reader into the newspaper and newspaper website, and to the article itself. Also by using images it will intrigue the younger audience (teenagers) to read and buy the newspaper and click on the newspaper website as some people may feel put off by a lot of text and not a lot of images.
I have also added spaces for adverts on my newspaper pages and for my newspaper website as this is what real life newspapers and newspaper websites do, as it allows them to gain money for advertisements and allows the reader to make them want to buy the newspaper if there is an offer inside for example.
I decided to use a mixture of Times New Roman font and Cambria font as both styles of fonts are simple and easy to read and stand out well against the white and pale blue backgrounds. Also by using different types of fonts I was able to make different pieces of the text stand out against the rest of the text. Another way in which I made pieces of text stand out is by using different size fonts, changing words/phrases to italics, putting them in bold and changing the colour of the text. I have decided to do these techniques as this is the way they catch the attention of the reader in existing newspapers, newspaper websites and newspaper posters.
Another reason why I decided to choose these creative techniques is because this is what they do in existing newspapers and websites; as they keep to a small colour palette, use an easy to read, simple font and a simple easy to read layout so that appeals to both a young and older target audience as they will be able to distinguish quite quickly what is where on the page. My target audience for my work is 15-45 year olds as this is typically what the target audience is for existing newspapers such as the Sunderland Echo and The Guardian.
For my newspaper I have decided to do an informative language style and intriguing words and phrases as this is what they do in existing newspapers. Also for my newspaper poster and newspaper website I plan to use informative and intriguing words and phrases as this is what they do in existing material that I have researched. However compared to a magazine, my local newspaper, newspaper poster and newspaper website my language style will be much more formal as in these types of products they tend to discuss much more sensitive and thought provoking statements compared to a magazine.
The sentence structure will also be less complex, shorter, straight to the point sentences as this is the type of sentence structure they use in newspapers and newspaper websites, and so I will keep to this convention so as not to confuse my readers. Also for the poster for my newspaper I will use a short, intriguing pull quote/sentence/phrase, to make the readers want to know more of the story/article, as this is what they do in real life newspaper posters.
The genre and style for my work will be a general selection of music, news, entertainment, sport and an organisation of events so that it will appeal to both a young and older generation as different styles of music will interest different age groups and different events will intrigue different types of people such as families, teenagers, children, adults, pet owners etc.
For my newspaper I will try to use a mid shot to long shot for my main image as this is what they do for the front covers I have researched. However for the smaller images which link to other sell lines/articles on the page I have decided to use a medium shot as this is what they usually use for a newspaper front cover and so I am keeping to front cover newspaper conventions.
For my newspaper website I have decided to use a variety of shots from extreme close up to establishing shots, as this is what they do in existing newspaper websites as it gives the reader something to look as it can become repetitively boring if they are the same shot types.
For my newspaper poster I have decided to use an image after more decision I have decided that it would be better as it will draw people in more as it emphasises the text which accompanies the image and helps it to stand out.
For my content I will be researching what to add in to my newspaper and have found so far that I need to add some kind of advertisement and/or competition as it will draw the readers in for my front cover. I will also include newsworthy articles which include Human Interest, Crime, Political, Medical, Educational, Sport, Business, Food, and/or Art. But usually it is something that gives the newspaper impact to the reader. Again for my newspaper website I will be using newsworthy articles which have an impact which make readers want to read on, such as a real life story about a local person. The same can again be said for my newspaper poster as it will try to grab my target audience's attention within just a few words.
My product is a niche product as it is targeted at a young target audience as many newspapers target for a much older audience, however I have decided to do this because I want there to be a newspaper which teenagers can read, instead of reading magazines which are all about celebrities I want them to read about real news in their local area. However my product still keeps to conventions in some respects at I will try to use the same colours and a similar layout for all of my products to existing products.
