Media A2 Coursework Evaluation

MEDIA A2 COURSEWORK:

The Voice.

EVALUATION

Introduction

For my A2 media coursework I chose to produce a local newspaper along with two Internet pages and a poster publication. When producing each item it was important to think about three main aspects; layout, product and target audience.

The target audience for my newspaper (The Voice) varies. As The Voice is a localNewspaper covering Portsmouth and surrounding areas, it will therefore be aimed at a general older audience as ‘local’ newspapers are mainly read and targeted at a 30+ age bracket as I found out whilst completing the initial research. However some factors of a local newspaper can attract younger audiences due to various pull factors such as advertisements and sports columns. Therefore because of this it is difficult to state a specific target audience for such a newspaper. I aimed for The Voice to mainly inform, so will contain a much larger news to advertisements ratio. The main purpose of doing this is so audiences will recognise The Voice as a factual newspaper with news on local issues which is something they want to receive from their local paper and not pages full of low budget advertisements for local businesses they are probably already aware of. I set the price of the newspaper at 40p as the two most local newspaper to me ‘The Portsmouth News’ and the‘Petersfield Post’ were both sold at 40p so it was a suitable price to set for a newspaper of similar content.

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

My media product uses the conventions in the following ways:

Layout: When producing my newspaper I took inspiration from the layouts of other tabloid newspapers. I included the usual conventions such as a main large photo related to the headline story and the masthead. I placed each convention in the section of the newspaper you’d expect them to be in. I added additional conventions such as dates, advertisements and the price of the newspaper to add to the overall feel of the newspaper and to give it the overall structure of a standard tabloid.

WebsitePrice

MastheadLure

Main HeadlineMain photoCaption to

PhotoAdvert


Brand: I produced a logo for my newspaper to show the brand identity of my

newspaper and intended for it to represent the identity of my product. I intended

for it to instantly tell the audience what type of newspaper it is just by simply

looking at the masthead. People would then soon quickly recognise the identity

and image of the newspaper. Font

Colour

I kept with the same theme for each publication ( Font, colour scheme)

Logo


Colour: One of the main aspects I concentrated on when producing my newspaper was appearance. This is an important factor to consider when creating a product as it can attract and captivate an audience. I wanted the appearance of my product to represent the identity of my newspaper so people will instantly recognise it but more importantly it will attract my target audience. Another factor to consider is to not overdue certain areas of the appearance and it can come across as unprofessional and unattractive to the eye.

I chose to use dark blue as the main colour throughout as I believe it was a suitable colour to represent my newspaper. In addition the dark blue appears relatively formal and represents the Portsmouth (sea, navy etc;)


Journalisic style: When conducting the research I noticed a common trend whereby most newspapers use the same format of articles/writing. This being the who?what? where? layout. Usually towards the ends of articles you they use quotes given from the interviewee, officials and various quotes that are relevant. This allows the reader to understand the story more easily.

My newspaper ‘The Voice’

Introduction‘Who, What,Where and When’

Quotes

Summary


Adverts: A common trend found in local newspapers is that they contain a large quantity of advert. This is partly as adverts are a large source of income for the newspapers as a lot of local/small scale newspapers are independently run. Keeping to the theme of using adverts, I included various advertisements in both front and second page of the newspaper itself and also on The Voice website.

I have used a range of adverts throughout, as notice the local newspapers I researched into do not stick to one type of advert aimed a specific audience but a vast range.


Expanded media platform: As predicted, my newspaper follows the modern requirements of also having a website. After brief research it was clear that not one known newspaper, did not have a well presented/updated website. I also found out that over the past few years a large percentage of people have turned to not buying their preferable newspaper but to access their website on a daily basis to find out about current news and issues. In addition, older generations who previously have not used the internet are now beginning to and therefore will be accessing newspaper websites. Taking this factor into account, it was therefore important to make the website reasonably easy and clear to use.

Masthead/logo

Link bars to all pages

Latest Headlines

Links to stories

Adverts

My media product develops conventions in the following ways:

Website: A large majority of local newspapers have easy to use websites with a simple format. They tend to be regularly updated on an ongoing basis (hourly) in regards to current news and events. Therefore this is something I have incorporated into the theme of The Voice website whereby it would potentially be updated regularly with a clear news feed displayed. In addition as mentioned before newspaper websites are starting to work on making their websites as informative as possible but at the same time extremely easy to use. The main purpose of this ; to introduce older generations to accessing such websites. However, this theme being something that attracts a general audience as people tend to stray towards website which are suit the purpose, clear and easy to navigate. The website will also have a comments option beneath each news article which will allow the audience to share their views on the matter whilst feeling connected to the local community.

Regularly updated news

‘Search’ option

How does your product develop conventions?

My media product develops conventions in the following ways:

Change: Throughout the project whilst producing each product of the newspaper there was always changes and modifications being made. The purpose of this was to all together improve all aspects of the newspaper. This being something editors of printed media do on a regular basis.

At the beginning of production for my newspaper I went about firstly producing a logo for the newspaper. This being something I changed as I went along.

First design was subtle where I used futura font overlayed onto a white background for a clear & formal image.

I then adapted and use the helvetica typeface which I believe gave a better result.

I then took this further and changed the font colour to white and overlaid it onto a clack background. I then added a navy full stop as imagery to represent the coast and naval history surrounding Portsmouth

However for the final logo design I decided on using a black text with a white background as it would incorporate better into the newspaper design.

How does your product challenge conventions?

My media product challenges conventions in the following ways:

Size: I have chosen to produce a smaller size newspaper compared with an average newspaper but to still include just as much information. The newspaper will be smaller in two aspects; the amount of pages and the dimensions. This is how we aim to challenge the conventions of a local newspaper.

The main purpose for reducing the dimensions of the newspaper is for it to be easier to handle and carry. The dimensions of a traditional newspaper are 38 cm x 30 cm which is also common for most local newspapers. However for The Voice I have chosen to go with the dimensions 21 cm x 29.7 cm which is the size of an A4 sheet of paper.

In addition, as mentioned, the newspaper will also contain less pages than a standard local newspaper. The reason behind this being that it will contain less advertisement pages and a reduced sport section. However the newspaper itself will contain just as much news stories and articles.

Size: 210 mm x 297 mm

Size: 380 mm x 300 mmMy newspaper

Standard Newspaper

Large sports section

Large quantity of advertisements

Reduced 4 page sports section

Small quantity of adverts

Fonts: The most common used font for newspapers is Times Roman. I thought I could challenge the conventions by using a different font throughout my products. Still keeping with a clear and simple font I aimed to use a font which gave the newspaper a formal but more modern appearance. I therefore chose to use Helvetica as it fits to all of those categories.


Times Roman Arial

This being the font used commonly with traditional print media. However, I wanted my newspaper to have a formal yet contemporary theme to it so Arial was a more suitable choice for this. In my opinion it isn't a particular good font as it can be seen to be un-clear and not very attractive to look at.

Using the Arial typeface was in my opinion the best option to use throughout my newspaper. It is very minimalistic meaning it is very clear to read .In addition it is also carries a modern feel with it similar to that of Helvetica but slightly more formal.

Proposed plans to re rejuvenate Havant town centre are being reviewed today by a community of ten key council members along with Havant town mayor, Julian Woodburn.

Proposed plans to re rejuvenate Havant town centre are being reviewed today by a community of ten key council members along with Havant town mayor, Julian Woodburn.


Poster: Most products have some sort of advertisement along with them, whether it’s through papers, radio or television etc. A large majority of products do it including household products, films and food. However I have challenged this convention by using a poster publication to advertise the newspapers subscriptions services.

When producing the poster, I wanted to keep with the same theme used for the newspaper itself along with the website. Therefore I kept with the same logo, typefaces, colour scheme etc;

Original Logo

Images on current news stories

The Voice slogan

A brief summary of what the poster is advertising

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary text?

The products together as a whole along with the ancillary text work together to develop and challenge the conventions found in a local newspaper. Each aspect which makes up the newspaper such as the advertisement/poster, images and the way the text/content was edited and manipulated. An important aim I believe I have achieved was products a series of products which have a sense of realism whereby they have a professional finish and has the potential to compete with rival local newspapers due to it’s quality.

The combination of my product and ancillary text I used were effective for the following reasons:

Followed brand identity: I produced a series of newspaper products which shared the same common theme throughout specifically to clearly represent the brand identity.

Layouts, fonts & colour scheme: I chose to work with a range of font’s and colours similar to that of various local newspapers but whilst not copying their brand identity or image. This gave the products a unique appearance that gave the newspaper a bold image.

Images and newspaper content: I used the same images and news/content throughout the products where relevant. This tied the products together to demonstrate the relevance of each product and its potential to be published. For example the main headline story on the front page of the newspaper was the first story on the homepage of the website.

Website link used throughout: I placed a clear link to the newspapers website on the newspaper and poster as the website contained additional content for readers to access.

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

I learnt from the audience feedback for the newspaper that:

Professionalism: From feedback I have learnt that planning your time wisely allows you to spend longer on various areas which as outcome means it enables you to put more effort into such areas. Therefore by doing this I have achieved what I believe is a professional product that has very realistic feel throughout.

Suitable content: Something I learnt from feedback was that a large majority of people want a informative newspaper with stories that are local to the area. In addition people claimed to not mind how serious or ‘news worthy’ the content was as long as it was local to the area.

Advertisement: A key factor I learnt was that people wanted less adverts clogging up their newspapers which is something common you find with local newspapers. They also stated how they wanted the adverts to be less obstructive. Layout: I also learnt that people wanted a newspaper that was laid out In a way which made the content more clearer. For example, they wanted each type of content to be clumped into specific sections such as news stories at the beginning of the newspaper, followed by events, then advertisements and so on.

Individuality: Something which was regularly mentioned was that people wanted a newspaper with a bit of a kick which didn't necessarily follow common media conventions. In addition they stated how they would like a newspaper which was published in a more practical size and smaller.

I learnt from the audience feedback for the website that:

Simple navigation: One of the main things I learnt from feedback about the website was that people wanted a website which was simple to use with clear navigation options.

Informative articles: People wanted the website to be made up of informative new articles that kept them up to date with local stories and issues. In addition they wanted news stories featured in the latest newspaper to be published on the website so they could regularly check the website for further information of the story.Searching: Something that was made clear to me was that the audience wanted a search option which enabled them to search for specific stories and articles. This also made the navigation of the site much easier.Style: Each page on the website follows the same style (font, colour etc;) I have kept to for each product. The purpose of this is so it enables people to instantly recognise the website as belonging to The Voice. This being something people wanted from a newspaper.

I learnt from the audience feedback for the poster that:

Appearance: The poster has a clean and formal feel to it which is suitable for a local newspaper poster. It has an eye catching appearance without being to over powering.

Eye catching: The poster needed to grab the audiences attention in order for the advertisement to be recognised without it looking like something a news agency wouldn't produce. This being something that has been achieved Imagery: keeping to the same theme throughout I used the Voice logo along with the arial font this worked to represent the brands identity. I also used images which represented current news stories that had been included in the latest newspaper.

How did you use new media technologies in the

construction and research, planning and evaluation

stages?

Adobe Photoshop:

I used photoshop throughout the production stages of the project to produce aspects such as ‘The Voice’ logo and producing the advertisements. As I study graphic design I have experience on using the program so this enabled me to use the program to its potential which allowed me to produced various successful outcomes. I also used photoshop to produce the newspaper poster where I used various tools to edit the images used and to vary the typography used on the publication. Adobe In Design:Along with Adobe Photshop, In design was also an important program I used during the production stages. I used the program solely to produce the two newspaper pages. Having only used In design on a few occasions before it took a while to get to grips with it. However after a few sessions in I become comfortable with the program which allowed me to develop the design and content of the newspaper further.

Microsoft PowerPoint:

I used power point to produce and present my written evaluation for the project.

The program allowed me to produced a more media illiterate evaluation instead of the simple word document essay style type.

Here are a couple of screen shots of myself using powepoint to produce this evaluation.

Blogger:I used blogger to present my initial research. In addition it allowed me to document my progress and each stage of the production of the newspaper products. I was able to upload images of my progress and text to summaries each stage.

Slideshare.net:

I used Slideshare.net to upload my powerpoint evaluation which I could then post to my blog.

What have I learnt? and conclusion

I have learnt a number of things coming away from this project. The main aim for this project was to produce a local newspaper along with two website pages and a poster to advertise something related to the newspaper. Once the objective was given I had to use my own skills and primary materials to produce a series of products to a professional quality.

Having studied graphic design for the past two years this meant I already was comfortable with using various programs such as Adobe Photoshop and working with areas such as photography and typography. This allowed me to get a fast start on the production of the newspaper. With not having to query my lecturer about how to use certain programs I was able to work at a continuous pace and not having to worry about being delayed or not finishing in time. Coming towards the end of the production stages I found myself with a bit of spare time. With this, It meant I was able to go back over each product and improve certain areas where change was needed.

Overall I am happy and content with what I have produced. I believe I have produced a series of professional products which could potentially rival published newspapers. I have taken on board all aspects I have learnt through research and incorporated this into my newspaper.

Media A2 Coursework Evaluation

Education

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