Other Newspapers

I based my newspaper on the layout of my newspaper, I did this by researching many newspapers such as The Times, The Evening Echo and The Daily Mirror, and then seeing what conventions of  a newspaper they have, what genre they fit, who there target audience is, and looked at other parts of a newspaper such as how big the images should be and use of colour.

New Masthead!

As recommended in the recent post about feedback, I have changed the masthead in order for it to look more professional. Below is the new masthead...

I produced this masthead in photoshop, and using an image of a football boot, and adding several layers, I feel that I have created a good masthead. It follows the conventions of the last masthead in that the colors of blue are still there, as they are linked to the colors that Southend United Football Club wear. The green also links with the football theme of the masthead as it represents the pitch.

6 Weeks into the project

This is my work after 6 weeks.

I then asked for feedback from fellow students, I asked for both the positive and negative points about my work so far, and below is a table showing what they thought...

Font's- serif and sans serif

In typography a sans serif typeface is more commonly used for headlines and mastheads rather than bodies of text. The other typeface is called serif, unlike sans serif typefaces, serif is more commonly used for a body of text rather than for Mastheads or Crosshead. They have strokes/flicks on the end of each letter. The difference between a serif ans sans serif typeface can be seen below...

My front cover of my newspaper is written in the font in Monotype Corsiva which is a sans serif typeface which is shown below...

Whereas my Crosshead's of the newspaper is written in Helvetica Neue, a serif typeface as shown below...

Convetions of a newspaper front cover

After researching via the Internet as well as looking at formats of newspaper front covers such as "The evening Ecko", i have found out the characteristics of a front cover of a local newspaper. my newspaper will have some of the following things;

• a Masthead (title)
• the date
• the price of the newspaper
• a main headline
• a image that links to the headline
• one or two more headlines
• generally a barcode
• columns of text

The newspaper industry is threatened by two developements; technology in the form of the internet and television and "freebie" local newspapers that undermine the community stronghold of the local paper. With this the public are beginning to realise that you can recieve news for free.

The UK Newspaper Market
UK newspapers are in decline, with most papaers experiencing either a fall in circulation or as a result of majaor strategies such as a "flattening out" of sales. The contributing factors being the internet, rolling 24 hour news, blogs and video journalism, and there is a widespread migration to online newspapers as a response. Othe than technology there are two other events which equally have a significant impact on the sales of newspapers: firstly, supermarkets and petrol stations sell newspapers reducing the amount of newspaper delivery from a local newsagent. A customer only picks up a newspaper only when out and about, it could be a different paper each day and in some days no papaer at all. Secondly, there is now a distribution of free newspapers on public transport and around city centres, which with the internet combine the expectation among the readership that news should be free.

The Seasider

The project that I have chosen to do is;
-the first two pages of a new local newspaper together with the following;
-a poster for the newspaper
-2 hyperlinked pages from the paper's website.

Some of the idea's as to what the newspaper were;
-The Southend Success
-The Essex Express
-The Rayleigh Rover
-Seasiders

The name of the newspaper that I have chose is going to be; The Seasider.
The newspaper will be aimed at people who enjoy sport, and in particular Sport in Southend in Essex, the magazine will cover a wide area of Sport's, such as Football, Cricket, Athletics and Rowing.  My newspapr will be weekly so that I can get more news, as if there is no sport on one day their will be nothing to inform the readers about. Therefore the target audience for my newspaper are people who are interestted in sport and more specifically sport in Southend, this could range from any age whether they be a schoolchild or a elders. To help me get a general idea of what my magazine should look like, I will buy a copy of the Evening Ecko, and see what conventions of a newspaper it follows which I will then use to create my own newspaper. I will create my newspaper using programs such as; Indesign, Photoshop, Dreamweaver and Illustrator.

Existing Media: Craven Herald & Pioneer
http://www.cravenherald.co.uk/- accessed August 2008
The Craven Herald & Pioneer is the local paper of Skipton in Yorkshire, a conglomerate of Newsquest is an example of a paid-for local paper which has beaten rival newspapers by "going ultralocal". The papaer focuses on the micropolitics of community life, rather than adopting more macro news values.