When researching newspapers and magazines I found a lot of information that I could use to create a newspaper that would appeal to my target audience. Because my target audience is young adults and teenagers I wanted to create a newspaper in the style of a magazine, to try to create this I looked more specifically at tabloid newspapers because I have noticed that the age group who buy these papers often fall into my target audience. I also looked at magazines and compared the different aspects of both magazines and newspapers, most importantly the layout; refer to newspaper and magazine research part of blog. The media product that I produced uses aspects of a newspaper and a magazine; the aspect of a newspaper being the column text on the front cover and the positioning of some of the text for example the headline and the sub heading, the aspects of a magazine being the positioning and appearance of the logo, the large arranged photograph on the front cover and second page and the manner in which I conveyed an interview. I found that using a layout similar to a magazine but with newspaper aspects to it and using a similar format for text to a newspaper was the best way to create a newspaper in the style of a magazine.
I wanted to link my newspaper closely with my poster and website, so to do this I used many of the same images, colours and articles in all three products. The logo that I created for the newspaper is the basis for this, by creating a logo with only three colours I was able to incorporate these colours further into the newspaper and easily incorporate them into the poster and website. However I didn’t feel that this was enough to link all three of my products together to do this further I had the same or very similar logos on each of the products, I even placed an image of the front cover of the newspaper onto the website with the very same front article below the image, this was also because I found that many magazine websites had done this so if there readers were unable to get a copy of the magazine they could view the same content online this was also my reasoning for placing the same content on the newspaper. However I did add new content so the website was not identical to the newspaper, again I also found that placing new or different content on the website was similar to the websites of many magazines. To link the poster with the newspaper I used the same information and image that was on the front cover on the newspaper however I set it out different so it appeared similar to a poster or magazine front cover. View ancillary tasks post on blog for images.
Sample questions
1. Are you male or female?
Male Female
2. Do you think a local newspaper should consist of a variety of subject matters?
Yes No
3. What subject matters are usually covered in your local newspaper?
Politics Local news/ events Local entertainment Combination of all three
Other
4. Would a local music newspaper interest you?
Yes No Possibly
5. What type of newspaper would you consider this product to be?
Local music Local politics Local entertainment Local news/events
6. What do you think the age group for the target audience would be for this product?
Young adults only Teenagers only The elderly Aged between 30-50
Young adults and teenagers
7. Do you think the layout of this product is typical of either?
A newspaper A magazine It has aspects of both
8. Do you think the layout and the overall appearance of this product is aesthetically pleasing?
Yes, it’s very pleasing OK, it could be better No, I don’t think it’s very pleasing
9. What is the appropriate price for a product like this, if any?
Free 50p-£1 £1-£1.50 £1.50-£2 £2 and above
Results
1. Are you male or female?
2. Do you think a local newspaper should consist of a variety of subject matters?
Looking at the results of question 2 that local newspapers should consist of a variety of different subject matters, I would have changed the subject matter of my newspaper to one that covers a variety of different subjects, possibly local entertainment because this would allow me to include much more material in the newspaper and the website for example information about local events and festivals, reviews for local theatre and films at a local cinema plus the content that I have already included about music.
3. What subject matters are usually covered in your local newspaper?
Looking at question 3 gives me the same conclusion as looking at the results of question 2, that i should have given my newspaper a variety of subject matters that are related to the community, possibly looking at local news and events and entertainment. I wouldn’t want to add politics because I don’t think that it would blend well with the other subjects and i feel that any subject matter covered in a newspaper should in some way link in some way to the other subject matters.
4. Would a local music newspaper interest you?
I think that the results for this question has come out positively simply because there are very few music newspapers in this area. If this were to be a published newspaper it would allow me to fill a gap in the current media market.
5. What type of newspaper would you consider this product to be?
The results of question five show me that the people I asked thought that my magazine could have either been a music or entertainment magazine. This could be true because I have noted that a festival guild would be later in the magazine. However if I were to do this again I feel that I would make it an entertainment magazine because it would cover a wider range of subjects such as film and local vents as well as music. This would allow me to have a different variety of articles such as reviews that I could have in the newspaper as well as on the website.
6. What do you think the age group for the target audience would be for this product?
Looking at the results of question six suggests that the people I asked thought that my newspaper was majorly for young adults and teenagers as well as for teenagers only and young adults only indicating that the appearance and content of my newspaper was appealing to my target audience of adults and teenagers.
7. Do you think the layout of this product is typical of either?
8. Do you think the layout and the overall appearance of this product is aesthetically pleasing?
I agree with the results of question 8 because I do think that my media product could have looked better, if I had the chance to do this again I would have taken more time to organise taking photographs for the product because if feel that some of the photographs that I took didn’t look professional enough, I think that I would have preferred to take some of the photographs in a completely controlled environment so that factors such as the wind or other people couldn’t change the outcome in anyway. I think that having a better quality photograph would allow me to have a better quality layout overall making the appearance of my product look comparable if placed next to a real media product.
9. What is the appropriate price for a product like this, if any?
Again I agree with the result of this question, because after looking at some of the local newspapers in my area the conclusion that I have made is that the majority of them are free, making their profit from advertisements and I feel that I should do the same thing. And because if this was a real media product I would distribute it in local colleges, music stores and venues I don’t believe that it would be a product that people would expect to pay a large amount for, if anything.
To create my media products I used three computer programmes; Photoshop, Indesign and Dreamweaver. I used Photoshop to edit images that I wanted to use in each of the tasks, this included cropping images and editing the appearance of the images.
For example I edited one picture rather dramatically so I could use it both on the front of the newspaper and on the poster.
This was the original photo that I used on the front of the newspaper.
And this is the edited image, editing this image allowed me to create a new media product however using the same material that i already had, saving time. It also allowed me to create the product that i wanted because i felt that the original image simply placed on the poster looked very square and unprofessional, editing the image allowed the overall image flow better and have a similar effect to that of some of the magazines i had looked at. See ancillary tasks post.
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