The document describes the process of designing a student newspaper media product. The student looked to established newspapers like The Metro for design inspiration and conventions, researching layouts, fonts, and other elements. Feedback from peers helped improve elements like reducing white space. New media technologies were crucial for research, planning, and construction, allowing the student to access examples online and organize work digitally.

1. In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and
conventions?
Looking at my media product, I personally think it fits in with conventions used by other
well established local newspapers, however at the same time I think mine is controversial
as it offers different things to these newspapers as I have a much younger target audience.
My newspaper follows the features of a standard tabloid layout, which is similar to nearly
every local newspaper. I chose to have a tabloid layout as I thought it would be the most
suitable and interesting for my target audience. Most of my inspiration for my product
came from the local newspaper ‘The Metro’. I liked their layout and the way they had
two main stories on the front of their newspaper, one with a picture and one with just
text. I adopted this idea for my own newspaper, I also liked how big the masthead area
was, as I imagined this was the type of masthead I would like, therefore I also adopted
this idea. Thought the metro had a five column layout, I decided to use a four column
layout, as I preferred the even number style. I decided like the Metro to have a photo
story, and a main text story on my front page, though I tried not to make the story to long
and boring, though when I had finished there were too many blank spaces, so I had to
write more, and change some things around to make it less gappy.
Before I started to create my media product I looked closely at the detail of other local
newspapers. After looking at some, I realized all newspapers have a white background,
this is a convention I followed, however a lot of newspapers are also identified by the
colours of their mastheads, such as The Sun, which is red, and the Metro which is blue, I
decided to make my newspapers masthead blue, to stand out. Another convention I really
liked from The Metro newspaper was how the date was set 90 degrees clockwise, so it
was on the side. I thought it gave the newspaper a more modern look and a more modern
character and it shows their attention to detail, I also think its looks very professional.
While doing my research, I also took measurements of the height, width, border width on
the left and right, top and bottom, picture length and height, and the masthead
measurements. I also looked the alignments of the columns and advertisements. I then put
my measurements into Indesign, which is a programme on Mac and this helped me to
create a professional looking newspaper. I took most of my measurements from The
Metro and The London Paper, as I liked the conventions they used and the way their
designs looked. I used measurements from other local papers to construct my own
because I thought it would help to make my product look professional and conventional. I
also think that it helped my product to look like a newspaper and not a magazine.
When designing my masthead, I had a look at other newspapers, The Sun uses a red
background, however the Metro uses a blue background, I thought that blue would suit
my newspaper better, I also thought that if I put the word ‘Noise’ in red, it would stand
out more over the blue, however the words ‘The’ and ‘Bromley’ are in black. My mast
head is quite large, however I wanted it to stand out and grab my audiences attention.
As for fonts I used mainly the same fonts, as I wanted them to be quite modern and bold.
When it came to actual articles, I kept the font quite standard and modern. As at first I

2. used trial and error, as I didn’t think my newspaper looked quite realistic, so I researched
newspaper fonts, I selected one called ‘Old Newspaper Types’ as I thought it would make
my paper look authentic. However when I looked at my newspaper with the new font, it
did not look quite right, and I realized it was because I was trying to go for a modern look
with an old fashioned traditional font. Therefore I changed it to be more modern and sans
serif.
How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
Our main task was to create a newspaper; however we had to create two ancillary texts to
help us to advertise our product.
I enjoyed this part of the project a lot, probably more than actually creating my
newspaper, as designing things using programmes such as photoshop, I find very
interesting, as well as easier to use than In Design. I chose to do a radio advert and a
poster for this task and they were both great fun to do. After researching these for a while
I realised it might have been a bit harder than I had first thought, as when I was trying to
find radio adverts about newspapers, I couldn’t find any. However, I then went on
Youtube, and researched newspaper adverts, and tried to get some ideas, most of them
showed you a glimpse of what was inside or a feature on a story or tried to advertise all
the different subjects they cover. I tried incorporating all of these ideas into my own radio
advert. However as my newspaper is for a younger audience and mainly about music and
the happenings of the local society, I had to make sure I was specific with what was being
said, as my newspaper is not a well known brand yet, therefore I needed to advertise with
something that would catch the listeners attention.
I decided that since one of my stories on the front page was about the Band ‘Weather the
Storm’, I could use this to create my advert. I decided that I wanted to use some of their
music to introduce my advert, then have it playing quietly while Ben, the front man of the
band talks about their ‘exclusive interview’ within the paper. I decided after thinking
about it, that I should probably also include a slogan to go with my paper. I decided to
have another voice say this slogan. I never had an issue with the timings of the advert, as
we were allowed 30 seconds, and this was perfect amount of time for me to get in what
was needed to be said. While creating my script, I kept the timings in mind.
I created my advert using garage band as it is an easy programme to use and I thought it
would be simple to record, edit and put together my radio advert to a good standard. I
started by getting hold of a song by the band, once I had this I asked Ben to come and
record his part of the advert. I showed him my script and said he was welcome to change
anything he wanted, however he was fine with it, and we did a few takes of the audio
recording, and then chose the best, I then asked Tom, a media technician, to say the last
part of my advert, which was the slogan. We took several audio recordings, so that I had
a wide variety to choose from, with him saying the slogan in multiple different accents,
tones and speeds. Once I had chosen the right one for my advert, I began to put it all
together. I added the music underneath, and then faded it in and out when there was
speaking.
I thought on a whole the advert went well, and fitted in with my paper being about the
latest trends and music and whats happening at the moment, as it is advertising my
newspaper, as well as new and upcoming band ‘Weather the Storm’.

3. When researching my poster I found loads of different examples of newspaper
advertisements. One that really caught my eye was one by the sun that looked like a
receipt. I loved the simplicity of it, and decided I wanted to do one just like it, advertising
all the things my paper includes, and then stating that it is all for free.
I used photoshop to create my poster, and started by creating the receipt, I had to find a
receipt font online, to make it look authentic, and receipt like. I then added my logo,
which is also my masthead, I then added my slogan to the bottom of the poster. However
when looking at my poster, I realized it was a bit plain, and though I was going for
simplicity, it was too simple. So I decided to add a background, as I thought this would
make it more interesting. I added a wooden-look background to make it look as though
the receipt was placed on a table. I liked my poster as I thought it got the right message
across, and would attract my audience.
I think my poster and advert are coherent and believeable as a brand, as I believe that that
I researched thoroughly and indepth into my target audience and believe that I have
created advertisements that fully appeal to them. I tried to use conventions used by other
brands, such as elision and alliteration, however I also tried to challenge some of these by
being different, such as in my radio advert, by not using mainstream music in the
background, but using a local band that feature within my paper.
What have you learned from your audience feedback?
Whilst in production of my media product, while designing and creating my newspaper, I
was constantly asking for feedback, even on my paper drafts. I would then gather my
audience feedback, and make adjustments to fit accordingly with my target audience. The
audience feedback helped me to see where I was going wrong and what I needed to
improve on.
When creating my mast head, I designed a few different styles of different mast heads, I
then showed them to some of my peers and asked which one they preferred, once I had
heard what they thought I then looked at them myself and decided I agreed. I then began
to design my masthead in Photoshop. Once I had created it the only criticism in my
feedback was that it was too large, however I tried to use similar conventions and
measurements as ‘The Metro’, and therefore decided to keep my masthead bigger, as I
thought it stood out and drew my audience in. Good feedback I got was that the colours
stood out, it was well designed, and the word ‘noise’ in red really caught people eyes. My
audience feedback also told me that they liked the way that ‘The’ was on its side, as they
thought it was very modern.
When deciding on the layout of my newspaper, I looked into many different newspapers,
and noted down measurements and content. I tried to follow some conventions of local
newspapers, such as measurements, and the use of advertisements; I decided that due to
my paper being free, I would need to have a fair amount of adverts to fund my
newspaper. I decided to draw out a layout of my newspaper with measurements, so that I
could then put them straight in to In Design, with boxes to lay out where everything
would go. By getting feedback on my plan, I was able to see if my measurements allowed

4. too much space for one section and so on, and then was able to make adjustments. Such
as gaps, when I first drew it up, my feedback told me that it would be too gappy, and
there would be too much white space.
When analyzing my photos, most people that gave me feedback thought they were good,
and really appealed to my target audience. It helped that my photograph on the front page
is of a boy who is within the target audience age range of 16-24, as he is 18 years old. I
also think that it appeals to my audience as it is to do with music, and music is a popular
subject with the youth of today. I took my photos at a bar in Bromley called TP’s where
Ben, the boy in the front of the photograph, played with his band ‘Weather the Storm’. I
took many photos, so that I would have a good range to choose from. I then looked at the
quality of the photographs and chose the photograph I did because I thought it was of
good quality and quite clear. Feedback agreed with my decision as my peers thought it
was quite an attractive photo. By having appropriate photographs that help to represent
what my paper is about and of a good quality, it helps my newspaper to look professional
and to a good standard.
When choosing my stories for my newspaper, I first researched ten possible stories that I
could use for my newspaper, and then cut them down to three that I thought were
relevant. I also decided to create my own story about a local band, as my paper is meant
to be about what is happening in the society of youth today. I also chose to do a story
about Universities tackling the social divide, as I thought this would be very relevant to
my target audience as some will be going to university, some may already be there and
some may have already been. When I got feedback on my stories, my audience believed
that it was nice to have a contrast of a hard hitting story about University, and a more
informal story where I interviewed a local band member. I believe I chose the right
stories for my paper, as they suit my target audience, and have a nice contrast as they are
completely different, as one is formally written like an article, and the other is informal,
and written like an interview in a magazine.
After we had done some work in In Design on our newspapers our teacher decided we
should all give feedback on eachothers, so we printed them out and put them on the board
so all our peers could see. We were then given the grading criteria and green and orange
sticky notes, and asked to write positive comments on the green ones, and negative
constructive criticism on the orange. This was to help us understand what we needed to
improve on our newspapers. My positive comments were the design of my masthead,
they thought it stood out, and my photograph. My negative comments were that there was
too much white space, and that I needed to close up some of the gaps, as well as think
about the colour of my advert in the top right hand corner, as it is red, and so it my title.
After reading my feedback I then decided to change the measurements of a few things,
and move things around and make them bigger or smaller to close up gaps, and make it
tidier. I also changed the colour of the advert to orange as I thought orange was quite a
bright and vibrant colour which is also summery, and relevant to the advert.

5. I believe that the audience feedback that I received for my paper really helped me to
create the best paper I could, because it made it so specific to my target audience as I got
most of my feedback from my peers, as well as my ‘client’ which was my teacher. I
believe that all the feedback I got was positive because it helped me to create a
believeable more appealing product.
How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning
and evaluation stages?
I relied on new media technologies a lot within the construction, research and planning of
my product, as well as the evaluation, without them I would not have been able to create
my product with the creativity and information I did. I do not think my product would
have developed as well as it did.
For starters, the internet really helped with my research and planning, because I was able
to look at conventions of other newspapers and see how they attracted their target
audience. I looked at newspapers such as The Metro, The Bromley Times, London Lite
and the News Shopper. I decided to look at these papers because they are all free tabloids,
that rely on their adverts to fund them. They also all had local stories which attracted a
local audience, which is what I was trying to achieve. It also made me able to find
measurements and look at conventions in which I could use for my product.
I also used the internet for websites such as Google, to research posters and adverts for
my advertisements, as well as photos for my plugs and adverts on my newspaper, as well
as look at newspapers online for ideas.
Also, using the website Blogger.com, helped me to keep all my work neat and organized,
and easy accessible from wherever I am. It also helped me to keep track of where I am up
to in production, and help me to relate back to my planning whilst in production. This
website also helped me to look back at other peoples blogs from previous years and see
what the standard was and if I was the requirements, it also helped me to see what kind of
layouts they were using, and how they set their work out.
Another website I used was slideshare.net, I used this website to keep my work neat and
organized within my blog. It allowed me to upload my work in a slide show format,
which looks more professional as well as being easier to access and read.
I also used the internet to research fonts and download new ones, such as for my poster
when I downloaded ‘fake receipt font’, to make it look genuine. I wanted it to look
genuine as I thought it would look more professional and appeal more to my audience. I
think presentation is a very important factor of production. Therefore I wanted my
presentation to be very accurate to my target audience.
When doing the research and planning for my poster, I used Google to find other
newspapers advertisements, if I hadn’t had the internet it would have been really hard to
access all the different advertisements, just like the radio advert, if I didn’t have the

6. internet to get on to Youtube, I would not have been able to fully research and plan my
radio advert.
My whole project has been based around new media. If I didn’t have access use to the
internet there’s no way this work would have been possible. A majority of my research
would be internet based and research I did into other newspapers all came from their own
websites. Without having the internet, without buying the various newspapers daily, I
wouldn’t have been able to carry out my production as well as I did. I also don’t think the
standard of my work would have been nearly as good.