The document summarizes and analyzes several existing news websites. It finds that most websites use images to grab readers' attention, though the 1996 Guardian did not. The Press and YorkMix focus on local audiences but have different aesthetic styles - the Press is somber while YorkMix is positive. DoubleDownNews stands out with its vibrant red color scheme and lack of ads. Overall, the analysis identifies common features around use of images and topic coverage across local and national scales to engage readers.

1. Research
Corem Hind

2. Existing Product: ThePress(York)
• The Press uses a solemn black and white colour scheme which makes it look like a traditional newspaper. This was most
likely on purpose as they know most of their audience will be older generations who will get nostalgia out of the colour
scheme. Almost shockingly the most colour on their website is from the ads, and they have a lot of ads. However, they
do choose to have colour on certain links at the top. These coloured links help to attract the reader's attention directly
to where they want them to be.
• The logo is the York minster between their name, this as a logo stands out and yet again sticks with the same
newspaper aesthetic. This logo is very bold and if you put it next to the newspaper it would almost be in symmetry with
it this is worth thinking about when creating my website as it may make it feel more familiar to the reader.
• as the York press similarly to mine aims to attract the local York audience, they primarily focus on York's issues however,
they include lots of images to try to grab the reader's attention while scrolling down this website. Almost all the content
on their home page is constructed through images this makes this product more attracting to a younger audience.
These images combined with the easy bold fonts make it easily accessible to all age ranges while having certain aspects
to attract young and old.
• The press also has a pop up when you go onto their website asking you if you would like to win money by completing a
survey. This is a brilliant marketing strategy as it will make the reader stop and think before either completing the
survey or continuing to the website.
One thing that is really notable from the
Press's website is the "most popular" list,
this list includes the top 10 most popular
articles across the past week. This feature is
specifically attractive to the
belonger psychographic as it gives them
good conversation starters and brings them
up to date with what their peers and friends
will know.

3. Existing Product: DoubleDownNews
• Unlike the Press Double Down News (DDN for short) Using a vibrant red colour scheme. By using a red colour scheme
this website makes you feel like it is energetic and passionate about what it is posting and almost makes it feel youthful.
In addition to the colour scheme they include bright and interesting images With bold striking headlines to try hook the
reader in.
• DDN like the Press includes way more images than text to grab the reader's attention to something that visually looks
appealing that they may have previously not thought to read. Furthermore, they use a mixture of the pictures with the
text to grab you with the image then make you click with the enticing headline.
• DDN chooses to have the abbreviation of their name as their logo rather than an image of some kind this makes it feel
slightly less like a brand and more like an official website. By doing this DDN adds more credibility to their work.
• DDN runs this sleek overall look with no ads to take away any distractions and point you directly at the news they run
their website of donations/subscriptions rather than requiring ads to be able to run their news. Their reasoning for not
taking ad money is so that their information cannot be corrupted by any company's agenda. They use this freedom as
one of their perceived selling points.
• The sleek design of this website makes it an enjoyable and smooth experience with everything you need to get to very
clear. All their social medias being in the top right means that someone is way more likely to go follow one of their
medias as they are right at the top. Peculiarly DDN has their newsletter link only at the very bottom of each page rather
than a link across each page.
• It is also worth noting that DDN chooses to cut off the banner as a good resolution
It is worth noting the width difference between
DDN and YorkMix. As DDN uses a much smaller
width which actually makes the website look a
lot smoother and compact whereas YorkMix has
the shorter width which makes it feel less
friendly and almost more amateur.

4. Existing Product: YorkMix
• YorkMix has a logo like the Press However this time the logo is the first letter from York and
Mix. This logo is a very bright and noticeable logo which you will remember when you see it
around.
• As soon as you go onto the YorkMix website you feel the positivity from the colour scheme to
the images, the bright oranges combined with the positive pictures makes it feel like a warm
and positive website. Even when they are reporting on a story that would normally be
shown in a dark tone, they choose a positive picture of the story. This makes the website
more attractive against its competition because it gives people a break from the normal
doom and gloom of politics.
• YorkMix focuses on stories around York and how global things effect York and rarely reports
on anything out of York. This means that it attracts the York audience especially people of the
psychographic belonger because it makes them feel more a part of their community and
keeps them up to date with what's going on around them.
• Out of the websites I have researched most of them exist to access another product whether
that’s a radio station, magazine or Youtube account. This website chooses to not advertise
their social medias rather to just advertise their radio station.

5. Existing Product: The Guardian
(1996)
• The Guardian was one of the first news websites alongside the BBC. The Logo for this
website is literally just the name with a bold white font for "Guardian" You can see that for
the top of the page that news websites haven't altered there banners that much from 1996.
These days there is just more going on in the banner like social media links.
• The difference between a homepage then and now is very obvious. As we have seen from
the past products Images are involved massively in all of them. Whereas here we see no
intriguing pictures, no bright colours, not even catchy headlines. This is a direct thing from
the time as the high-quality images that we are used to now were very scarce/non-existent
in this period.
• Another big difference is the bottom of the page as you can see there is just the "Help,
Feedback and archive" links floating without any kind of banner, images or colours. This
looks unusual as most websites especially news websites have banners at the bottom with
various links and images on.
• When this was first made the guardian had only one online rival, the BBC. This meant
that they had to show their original journalism in an effective manner. And they achieved
this, this website shows you all the possible places you might want to go without confusing
you with any of the images or advertisements that modern day websites have.
• To attract a wide audience, they made sure to include as many different subjects as they
could, they even included a section made and for students.

6. Existing product: (BBC interview) & (Max Fosh street interview)
• After deciding on doing a video interviewing people (Myself multiple times) it
would be good to research into how other people/companys conduct their
interviews, so I am going to research a BBC interview and a Youtube interview. I
chose a BBC interview that is decently old so it's serious and a Youtube video
because I wanted a comedic video to research.
• The BBC has a very serious tone and is very topic focused, trying to get the
opinion of the person while the Youtube one is acting more as a way of showing
comedy by asking rather bizarre questions and seeing the responses to it.
• In the BBC interview you don't see the interviewer whereas in the Youtube one
seeing the interviewer is key to the comedic effect.
• The Youtube interview interviews random people on the street whereas the BBC
one has a guest that has already contemplated their response. This shows when
watching as you get a much more genuine/realistic response out of the people.
• Another difference that is worth mentioning is the BBC choose to have all their
interviews around the same place whereas the youtuber goes around London
asking the questions.

7. Major points from each product:
• The Press
• Most popular list, attracts belongers.
• Mainly black and white colour scheme only colour is from images.
• Big black and white logo between the name sticks in your head and fits with theme.
• Pop up when you go onto website asking if you want to enter a competition.
• Focuses on York audience.
• Lots of ads.
• DoubleDownNews
• Much smaller page width, which makes page feel cleaner and more aesthetically pleasing.
• Vibrant red colour scheme.
• Loads of images to grab the viewer into an article.
• No ads.
• Chooses to have an abbreviation of their name as the logo rather than some sort of image.
• Focuses on the UK audience has a whole.
• Uses their website primarily to advertise their YouTube videos.
• YorkMix
• YorkMix has a logo which is some amalgamation of their name.
• Very positive/bright colour scheme feels shockingly different to the rest.
• Filled with bright images which alongside the colour scheme enhance the over all bright aesthetic.
• Focuses on York making it more appealing for the belonger.
• Website exists to advertise their radio station.
• The Guardian (1996)
• No logo just the name in bold.
• No images just links to guide you to where you want to go.
• No footer just the links floating.
• Loads of different subjects to attract a wider audience.
This exists to be able to
look at what the different
websites have in a
quick low time-consuming
manner.

8. Research Analysis
• What common features do the researched products have?
– Three of these websites are filled with images, only the 1996 one
includes no images.
– The press and YorkMix where the most similar products however,
YorkMix gave off a much more positive feeling where the Press did
not.
– All these products discuss multiple different subjects however they
mostly all focus on politics.
• What aspects of the research will you include within your own
work?
– My product will aim to include multiple different images to try hook
the reader into each of the articles at first glance.
– The width that DDN uses makes their website look a lot smoother so I
will try to achieve that resolution.
– I will try to give my site the same positivity that YorkMix gives off
through its colour scheme and images.
– I will include a mixture of both styles for my video as you will not see
the interviewer however, it is done in a formulated almost
comedic style.

9. Questionnaire
Analysis
Survey Monkey Link:

10. Audience research
• Observation:
• This is extremely good 9/10 people reading some form of news shows that there is a big audience
my product can appeal to.
• What this says about my audience:
• This shows that a lot of my audience are already reading some source of news.
• How will your product appeal to this audience:
• My product will appeal to this audience by making it more enticing with the local aspects than one
of the big News websites would be.

11. Audience research
• Observation:
• 70% of my audience prefer snappier articles while only 30% prefer more in detailed responses.
• What this says about my audience:
• This shows me that my audience prefers more interesting and faster paced articles rather than
slower and more detailed ones.
• How will your product appeal to this audience:
• My product will appeal to this audience by having mostly fast and snappy articles with very few
fully detailed articles.

12. Audience research
• Observation:
• 50% of my audience is between 13-16 while 40% is between 17-20 and only 10% is 20-30.
• What this says about my audience:
• This shows me that my audience is mainly young with very few being above the age of 20.
• How will your product appeal to this audience:
• My product will appeal to this age range by using reds to connote passion and energy, so
they feel interested. Also with the articles being snappier it will help to attract a younger
audience.

13. Audience research
• Observation:
• The highest percentage being other with 40%. The guardian closely following with only 10% less.
While the sun and Novara media only share 30%.
• What this says about my audience:
• This shows me that a big chunk of my audience mainly likes traditional websites like the Sun and the
Guardian while very few choose an alternative site like Novara media.
• How will your product appeal to this audience:
• MY product will try to focus on the 50% of other and Novara as a more alternative website than the
basic ones like the Sun and Guardian.

14. Audience research
• Observation:
• 70% read news for education while only 30% read it for entertainment.
• What this says about my audience:
• This shows me that combined with the snappier articles verdict they want
informative and snappy articles.
• How will your product appeal to this audience:
• My product will appeal to this audience by having mostly
informative/educational articles while having only a few entertaining ones.

15. Audience research
• Observation:
• The majority of my audience is on the left holding 50% while the right has 30% less
and instead 30% of my audience is neutral.
• What this says about my audience:
• This shows that 30% of my audience should be open-minded and happy to read
whatever kind of article. However, 70% are opinionated and I will end up choosing
to go with the bigger percentile. The left.
• How will your product appeal to this audience:
• my articles will be a middle ground balance of Left-leaning while keeping
the articles neutral/un-biased.

16. Audience research
• Observation:
• 60% percentage of my audience prefers video format while only 40% prefer text.
• What this says about my audience:
• This shows that my audience prefers the fast paced and easy to understand format
of video news.
• How will your product appeal to this audience:
• I can appeal to the 40 percent with my articles however that would make 60%
inaccessible. This means that I need to consider creating some kind of video-based
media.

17. Audience research
• Observation:
• 90% said they would prefer neutral news while only 10% said no.
• What this says about my audience:
• This shows that my audience definitely wants neutral and evidence-based news.
• How will your product appeal to this audience:
• My product will appeal to this audience by trying to be as neutral as I can be in an article and If an
article is written from a biased perspective, I will put a warning on it.

18. Audience research
• Observation:
• 80% wants a fact driven article while only 20% prefer a lighter variant.
• What this says about my audience:
• This shows me clearly that my audience want a mixture of a factual yet snappy
article.
• How will your product appeal to this audience:
• MY product will have factual articles to appeal to this audience.

19. Audience research
• Observation:
• 30% think that the visual look matters more than the integrity of the work while 70%
think that the quality of the work mattes more.
• What this says about my audience:
• This shows me that my audience seem to want extremely professional articles above
everything else.
• How will your product appeal to this audience:
• My product will appeal to this audience by creating high quality articles while also
creating high quality visuals.

20. Interviews

21. Interview 1
• When you go onto a website do you prefer when it's presented in a formal manner or a vibrant
informal manner?
Response: "Vibrant informal manner"
• Why?
Response: "I want it to be nice looking as it enhances the experience"
• What are some crucial things you expect/want to see when you go onto a news/media website?
Response:
1) "recent news"
2) "videos"
3) "Good writing"
• What are the keys things that makes you stick to the news/media websites
you currently visit? Ease of access? No ads? Articles written from a particular viewpoint?
Response: "I want my sites to run smoothly and efficiently"
• And finally, when visiting a website is there anything that instantly puts you off?
Response: "Glaring reds and Yellows instantly put me off and if I am bombarded by
advertisements as I go onto the site It makes me click off"

22. Interview 1
• Observation:
• This interviewee seems to care more about the look of
the website rather than the text.
• What this says about my audience:
• This shows me that the look and technicality of a
website is crucial in its success and will hook the reader
more if it is visually appealing as well as strongly
written.
• How will your product appeal to this audience:
• My product will appeal to this audience by looking
nicer than the competition while also being well
written so that it's interesting to read.

23. Interview 2
• When you go onto a website do you prefer when it's presented in a formal manner or a vibrant informal manner?
Response: "Formal"
• Why?
Response: "Formality tends to mean the information in the article is better presented than when the article is trying to
spice up its writing"
• What are some crucial things you expect/want to see when you go onto a news/media website?
Response:
1) "Fact Checked Information"
2) "Well Presented Content (I.e singular main article instead of small pieces of text image-by-image.)"
3) "Information presented factually and without exterior opinion of the writer (Opinions of people asked for the sake of
journalism is fine.)"
• What are the keys things that makes you stick to the news/media websites you currently visit? Ease of access? No
ads? Articles written from a particular viewpoint?
Response: "I often use the Guardian for news as it provides factual and non-opinionated articles that are well
presented and written, I do not often view their opinion pieces as they are of less interest to me."
• And finally, when visiting a website is there anything that instantly puts you off?
Response: "Sensationalist headlines and writing or poorly formated articles/pages generally put me off of a website."

24. Interview 2
• Observation:
• This interviewee definitely prefers a factual and formal
representation of news.
• What this says about my audience:
• This shows me that my audience want formal and
factual articles while simultaneously wanting
snappier interesting articles.
• How will your product appeal to this audience:
• My product will appeal to this audience by doing a
mixture of opinion pieces and unbiased articles to
appeal to this audience.

25. Audience Profile
Category Demographic Content to appeal to this audience
Age Range
Primary: 13-20
Secondary: 21-35
• The red colour scheme should attract a slightly younger
audience as it connotes: Energy and passion.
• The articles themselves will all be factual yet snappy to make it
easier and quicker to understand. With the colour scheme and
the articles this should attract this slightly younger audience.
Gender
Primary: Male
Secondary: Female
• The colour scheme is mainly gender neutral so I can attract any
gender.
• I will also include different articles that each individually will
be targeted towards a specific gender.
Psychographic
Primary: Balanced
Secondary: Type A
• Climate change will be mentioned regularly to attract
these psychographics.
• There will also be articles about York's river and how polluted
it is to appeal even further to their socially conscious side.
• I will also include mentions of jobs that are currently available
in and around York.
Social Status
Primary: Working-class
Secondary: Middle-class
• The site will be run of donations so it will be free and easy to
access.
• I will also talk about the different political initiatives to help
the working and middle classes.
• A few articles will be done in a more conversational style
rather than a formal one to make it feel more friendly. This
should make it more attractive for these social classes.

26. Research
Evaluation

27. Research Evaluation
– What sort of a response did you get?
• I got a very slow response for my interview and survey as it took a while for
people to get back to me however once I had got the 10 results the
information will be crucial in the design of my website. In reflection it would
have been better to post it onto a main social media like Instagram.
– How did you distribute your survey? Give an advantage and a disadvantage
• I distributed my survey by sending it to all my class-mates then sending it across social media
apps (like discord) to my friends, who are all around the initially-planned age range. The
disadvantage to this was that it took a while to get enough responses and even then, I only
got the bare minimum of ten.

28. Research Evaluation
• Give an overview of how you conducted your research. Discuss the strengths
and weaknesses of each method
– Product Research
• I conducted product research by finding three news websites, three modern day sites and one site from the
90s. These 4 sites included 2 based around York and 2 global. This was a good sample to research as each one
gave me different things to analyse while still getting a general idea of what a news site should look and work
like. This method is great for researching different products however, it doesn't give you direct information
about your audience. A disadvantage about this product research was trying to find a news website that was
around in the 90s luckily, I found an article that showed what the original BBC website looked like.
– Questionnaires
• I created a 10-question survey through SurveyMonkey asking quantitative questions. This is a great method to
quickly get an idea of your audience and get information that is fast and effective. A big disadvantage to this is
it only gives you quantitative information rather than objectionably more useful qualitative information.
– Interviews
• I created a 5-question interview that asked qualitative questions to gain a better
understanding of my audience. These interviews gave me more detailed information and
insights into my audience. A disadvantage to interviewing was that it was a lot harder to
find a good amount of people to interview as it takes up more time for the individual.
Another downside is you then look through the responses individually rather than being
able to see statistics all grouped together through a survey.