Friday 30 September 2011

IDEAS INTO NAMES OF NEWSPAPER?

I need to come up with a unique - yet catchy name for my Local Newspaper. This means that I will have to look into existing names of Local Newspapers to help encourage and inspire me.
A few Local Newspaper names that already exist, include the likes of:

  • Haverhill Weekly News
  • Haverhill Echo
  • Sudbury Mercury

Some Local Newspapers I have come up with include:
  • The Haverhill press 
  • The Local Press
  • The Haverhill Independent
  • Local Independent
  • The Haverhill Telegraph
  • Local Telegraph.
  • Haverhill Weekly Gazette.
After looking into each of these names, as a group we all particularly liked the 'Haverhill Weekly Gazette'. The reason for this, was because it was an original name, it was short and so can be easily remembered.




Wednesday 28 September 2011

Fonts?

Above I have researched into different Newspaper Fonts, and picked which ones I feel will work well on a Local Newspaper.
The conventions I were looking for in order to achieve this were:
  • Blank colour - one that is solid and is not too flashy, as this may lead the newspaper and the reader's astray.
  • Boldness - I looked mainly for thicker fonts, as this is a convention that helps to attract readers. 
  • Style - This was important. I also looked into much older fonts, such as the one above named 'newspaper title font 3'.
  • Size - this is a factor that I will need to look into when creating drafts of my final piece. 
As well as needing fonts for my Newspaper headline and main story lines, I also will need other fonts for areas such as:
  • Teasers
  • Other story line
  • Decks 
These types of fonts may vary in colour and also size, depending on the type of area.
Below, I will be creating a questionnaire to help me decide upon a Newspaper font from the list above. 
The questions I asked were:

Q1. Which of the Newspaper Title fonts attracted your most attention?
Q2. Which of the Newspaper title fonts seem most appropriate and suited to a local Newspaper.
Q3. Out of which of the 8 Newspaper Title fonts do you feel look the most attractive? 
Q4. Do you prefer bolder fonts or more italic fonts?
Q5.  Which of the 8 Newspaper Title fonts for other story lines do you think will look best? 

The results I collected from these questions show:



These above results show, that the Newspaper title font that attracted the most attention was Perpetua. The public also voted that the Newspaper title font that seemed most appropriate and suited for it's purpose was Bell MT. As for question 3, the most voted Newspaper title font for the most attractiveness was also Bell MT - and closely followed behind was Times New Roman. Question 4 showed that more people preferred bold fonts as a pose to italics.
 As for question 5, the public voted that they preferred uppercase style fonts, in contrast to traditional lowercase.

The next set of fonts we will be analysing are for the Newspaper copy. (shown below):
I have managed to get responses to these fonts from my target audiences to chose their favourite, and have shown these in the questionnaire below:

The results from the questionnaire show that the Newspaper article which looked most professional was Franklin Gothic. The least professional font however, was Ariel narrow. The second question asked which font was easiest to read, the results from this proved that Franklin Gothic book was the best, and closely followed was Euphemia UCAS. 
Out of the 6 fonts my demographic target audience again voted Franklin Gothic book to be the most preferable font to read. Question 4 asked whether my audience preferred curved font or block font. The result gathered from this prove that they prefer block fonts.
My last question asked which font attracted most attention and this resulted in Franklin Gothic book being chosen.                                            

Own ideas into Newspaper layouts:

Here I will be updating my template layouts of Local newspapers, where I will later on decide which I like best and why.
Below I have scanned in a Front cover and inside page of my own Local newspaper. These particular templates use a mixture of images and text - as this is what my target audiences preferred in my survey monkey questionnaire - much like the Haverhill Weekly News. 













Thursday 15 September 2011

Photography used in existing Local Newspapers:

Photography plays an important role in Newspapers, as this is an element that helps engage the audience and attract their attention. The convention also acts as a 'sneak peak' to the Newspaper, particularly when it is displayed on the Front cover of a page.
I plan to start by researching into existing photography images used on the front covers and inside pages of Local Newspapers.
The types of photography allocated on the front and inside pages of a Newspaper will all depend upon the story-line it is backed with.


The first piece of photography I have looked at within a Local Newspaper is of 5 people - all of which are dressed smartly and drinking out of champagne glasses. This type of image therefore is backing up a main story re-presentating celebration. This is shown through long shot of the people whom are standing in front of an area relating to the celebration and storyline.
The second image I have looked at, is of a mid shot elderly man - whom is looking distressed. The slight camera angle facing upwards, creates an image portraying an elderly man being distraught about  his broken fence, where the fence is the foreground and the man is the background - revealing the importance of the image.
The third Local image



Wednesday 14 September 2011

TRADITIONAL vs MODERN?





Here, I will be researching into traditional and also modern Newspapers, where I will be finding out which newspapers are liked best and why? This information can be found on my survey monkey.

After having collected my results from my survey monkey questionnaire, I can reveal that the majority of people voted that Newspapers should be kept in its present modern form.
The reason for this may be because of the presentation of the page or even because the use of colour helps engage and attract the readers - thus making the story lines more exciting to read? 

Difference between a National and Local Newspaper:

One of the most important differences between a national and local newspaper is it's demographic. A National Newspapers demographic is aimed entirely at a widespread community - focusing mainly on areas such as the national economy.

A local Newspapers demographic however, is focused entirely within a small local area, where story lines about streets  and small business' are likely to be talked about.

The Newspaper below (Daily Express) is an example of an existing National Newspaper. It shows story lines of real happenings around a National area. Other conventions such as advertisements, consist of typical stories that would want to be read by a majority of people anywhere.

In comparison to this is an existing example of a Local Newspaper. This particular type of Newspaper reveals story lines of recent happenings within the Local area. The advertisements that are also used on the cover of this Newspaper are from Local Companies to help appeal to their Local audiences, as a pose to a widespread audience.










Difference between a tabloid and a broadsheet:

Here, I will be analysing two different types of common Newspapers that are often read daily. These types of Newspapers consist of a Tabloid Newspaper (The Sun) and a Broadsheet Newspaper (The In dependent).

A Tabloid Newspaper is essentially half the size of the larger type of Newspaper - known as a Broadsheet. This type of conventional format makes it much more compact and easy to handle. This type of convention is a necessity when it comes to its target audiences, as it enables them to hold the Newspaper easily and without any trouble -  whereas using a Broadsheet, the size of the Newspaper c an be much more of a struggle. 

Other examples of advantages in the area of the publishing, is that it is cheaper to produce, where the Newspaper requires less paper. The tradition of presenting a Newspaper in this format has known to be appealing to some readers, where some just want the basics, without an in-depth discussion and a large amount of text.



In reference to the Tabloid Newspaper - The Sun, this is often a popular choice, where people aimed at particularly 18-40 year olds read this type most often. The reasoning for this, may be partially due to the areas of information allocated within the paper. For instance areas such as sport, celebrities and world-wide news are extremely popular. 

A Broadsheet Newspaper however, consists of a large format - approximately 15 by 24 inches (38 by 61 centimetres). This size can often be referred to as "tricky to handle", or large enough to hold a large amount of informative text - giving you better value for your money". 
And so there are two different views typically referring to the size of the Newspaper, where different types of audiences prefer different formats. A Broadsheet is typically known as "an advertisement intended for wide distribution".

In reference to the Independent Newspaper - is The Independent. This is a Newspaper that is often aimed towards well educated, highly informative socioeconomic groups of people, where story lines within the Newspaper would consist of politics and the current world state. 
As seen on the Front cover below,  the main story line is describing current world states, where facts as well as opinions are likely to be seen. There also are a larger amount of texts being portrayed making it a much more informative newspaper.

Codes and Conventions of a Newspaper-

Below I have created a list of all of the known codes and conventions needed in order to create a successful Newspaper. I will be referring to these conventions when analysing other Local newspapers and creating drafts of mine. And so this is an extremely helpful list for me to refer back to when i need to.

Textual Analysis' of existing Newspapers:

Below, I have created a diagram showing all of the important conventions needed on a front page of a Local Newspaper. I also have included a small example of the type of layout used for this particular front cover Newspaper. I have done this template to help give me a greater understanding of what particular newspapers may look like. This should also help me to compare this layout with others. 







Analysis essay on a front page Local Newspaper:



Tuesday 13 September 2011

Existing Newspaper layouts

Below I have a variety of templates for the front page and inside page of newspapers that I have created using different softwares.
Below I have created a couple of templates showing the differences between the layouts of the cover pages in the past. 
As you can see, there is much more information and images put into the front cover page of a newspaper now, than compared to a few years ago - where everything was kept minimal. The idea of having more information and images on the cover helps to engage and interest the readers.



Existing Local Newspapers:

Below I have a list of existing front cover and inside page newspaper templates.
These Newspaper templates will help me to chose a design for my final or preliminary works. This could be changing elements, layouts, fonts and colour.

                                                                                            
This particular Local newspaper front cover (ABOVE) is a pay weekly type. It consists of a 3 colour palette and contains plenty of information - connoting a informative newspaper. The use of fonts are relatively the same, but range in size and boldness. There are only two images displayed and one small advertisement acting as a banner at the bottom of the page. A teaser has been included on the far right hand side of the page, in order to help encourage people to buy the paper, as this connotes popularity. 





















Under neath the top front cover is the inside page to the newspaper (SHOWN ABOVE). Four images are being displayed, each following different story lines. This particular ingrediant connotes excitement to the page and helps give a better understanding. The text consists of column inches and are displayed across the page. Another local advertisement is placed at the bottom left hand side of the page - connoting it's ranking in importance. The fonts are again kept the same, however for areas of text such as the mast head, the text is much bolder.




On the left is the front cover of a free Local newspaper which is delivered to the door weekly. In comparison to the above  newspaper, the use of text is much more minimal. The colour palette however is again used, following the colours red, black and purple. There are 5 images displayed on this cover page, where-as the previous cover had only 2 images. A border is used to present the images better and help to present the page. Unlike the previous cover, the use of advertising has been used more. This could be to help address the local areas of surrounding business'. The use of text has also kept relatively the same, however, the size, thickness and colour of the font fluctuates.





SURVEY MONKEY RESULTS:



On the right hand side, I have 
collected my results from my survey monkey questionnaire.


The results for question 1 show that the majority of people feel as though the information and story lines put into a Local Newspaper are sometimes exciting, and fluctuate depending on the story lines. Question 2 showed that 71.4% of people feel as though 40 pages in a local newspaper is far too much.




The results for question 3 however, show that the layout used for a particular local Newspaper was a good layout to use.  
Question 4 showed that more than half of the people that completed the questionnaire, thought that Local newspapers should not cost anything, and should be delivered to your home weekly.



As for Question 5, an even amount of people thought that either a 3 colour palette should be used, or a 3 colour palette should not be used.
Question 6 also received an even number of votes, where the question asked was "Do you think that advertisements act as an important role in newspapers".







Question 7 asked wether the Front 
page of the newspaper should be 
kept modern or changed to it's 
original form. The results show, 
that the majority of people voted
 that Newspapers should be kept
 in there present modern form.
My last question involved the cost 
of ink needed to create a 
Newspaper. The results show that
 71% of people feel that the cost of
 ink involved in the creating process
 of a newspaper is far too much.

Research into Demographic target audiences and Survey monkey questionnaire:

Before being able to research and start making my Newspaper, I firstly need to know who my demographic target audience is. For this particular local newspaper, I have created a survey monkey questionnaire aimed entirely at 19-30 year olds. We felt as though this age group was suitable for a Local Newspaper where we agreed that this was the most common age group who read Local Newspapers most.

I have copied and pasted my url for the questionnaire below:


http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/55KD7WY


Above, I have a link sending you straight to my survey monkey questionnaire. 
It displays a list of questions that I hope will help me when it comes to creating drafts and final pieces of my work. I shall be using the results of these questions gathered from friends and family to help me make a successful end product.
I hope you enjoy it.
I will be posting my results after I have collected more data.