Evaluation

Q1) In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

When carrying out research into newspapers by looking at existing local and national newspapers and studied their front page and their second pages. I concentrated more on local newspapers as my paper would be a local newspaper. I found there were many conventions that were repeated in their layouts. These include:

- Masthead at the top of the front page
- Big, bold headline
- Strapline
- Photographs
- Pugs on the top left and right of the page (date, website etc)
- Byline above article (name of the writer)
- Section of advertising (lots on local newspapers)

I tried to use these conventions of real newspapers to make my newspaper look authentic, but I feel I have also developed some. I wanted to make my newspaper more colourful to attract a youth market into wanting to read and buy it, so my masthead does not use typical colours that would normally be found on a masthead, for example red. Instead, I used a light blue colour and warped the text, which I feel gave it a younger, youthful feel. I feel this will give my newspaper its own identity as it stands out from the rest because it is different to what is normally found on a newspaper.

I used the typeface Impact for the headlines as it is a bold font and would therefore stand out. It is conventional of newspapers to have a big bold headline and I wanted to make sure I included this. I have a menu at the bottom of the second page telling the reader the different pages for different sections of the newspaper. There is a menu feature in many newspapers, for example the Southend Evening Echo has one at the top of the second page. I tried to make mine more colourful and I also slanted the photographs to give it more of a magazine feel to appeal to a younger audience.

On both pages I have used a strapline in the same font (Impact) as the headline but in white and with a black background. This was used in a few of the newspapers I looked at and I liked how it made the text stand out and bordered it, so I decided to use it in my newspaper.

The "snow causes chaos ... page 2" title is in a typeface that would be continued throughout the newspaper on various pages for different titles for sections. I also used it on my poster and website to so it will become a recognisable feature of my newspaper. I noticed when looking at The Sun, that some of their pages were titled with a red typeface that was continued throughout the paper. So I developed this idea and created my own.

On the front page I have included the price and website as pugs on the left and the date on the right. On the second page I have the name of the newspaper on the right and then the page number in the centre. The page on the right hand side of the spread would have the newspaper name on the right, instead of left. I feel these pugs make my newspaper look more genuine and are typical of a newspaper.

After researching local newspapers I noticied they had lots of advertisements. So on my front page I have included a few advertisements that I created on photoshop.