The document discusses the research methods used to plan and design a local newspaper and accompanying website. This included researching layouts of existing newspapers online as well as using Wikipedia to learn about typical newspaper content and company backgrounds. Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, and IWeb were used to design the newspaper, advertisements, and website. Photos were taken with a camera and phone, and various tools were used to upload, edit, and organize content and gather feedback throughout the process. Overall, the author felt they were most successful with the newspaper posters but least satisfied with the home page of the website.

3. I researched all about different newspapers,
web pages and posters on the internet to find
out more techniques and interesting ways of
doing things. This gave me ideas on how I
could change and adapt photos to my
newspaper and change the formats. Also it
helped me plan the payout of my newspaper
and web pages as I did not know where to
start. By looking at other newspapers around
the area at the moment it gives me
suggestions on where things should go on the
page. Such as the date. Most newspapers
have the date on the top right hand corner
on the front page and on the left hand side
on each of the pages at the top.

4. Wikipedia was a good way of finding all about
newspapers and what it involves in a local
newspaper. It gave me topics which are normally
situated within a newspaper such as sport,
lifestyle, community and
news. It was also a good way of
researching about the companies
themselves. This includes who owns
the company and background
information like that. This is useful as
it allows me knowledge on the
newspaper which helped me when I
was doing my newspaper.

5. The News website
helped me find out what
information is needed
on a newspaper website
and how it is laid out
with the layout and
settings. Also the categories on which it focuses
on such ‘lifestyle’, ‘sport’ and ‘community. Like
most of the other websites I have researched it
has an advertisement at the top. The web page
is neatly planned out with each of the different
topics in a different box.

6. The Daily Echo has an
advertisement at the top
of the page so the
advertisement doesn’t
effect the layout of the whole website page. It has
the weather on the home page which I found quite
interesting as The News’ web page and some of the
others did not have this. I think this is to bring more
people to the page because a lot of people like to
know the weather in their area and what better
place to look for it than on your local newspaper
website. The ‘search’ box always seems to be on the
right hand corner at the top. I think this is because it’s
easier to have it at the top of the page where
everyone can get to it.

7. I used modern day technology such as the
web and Google to find newspaper web
pages and different idea’s and ways to
challenge the media. Google was the fastest
and easiest way to find any information on the
web and that’s why I used it to find out about
the newspaper companies and background
knowledge on it.

9. I used Photoshop to change and
make the photo’s better in order for my
newspaper. That could mean cropping it to make
the photo fit in with the layout better and
cropping out things in the picture that ruined it. I
often used Photoshop on all my photo’s just to tidy
them up and make them more professional. I
sometimes used the magic wand to get rid of the
background the photo was on. This was a good
tool for the advertisements I had to make for the
web pages and my newspaper as I could change
the colour of the background to fit in with the
product.

10. Illustrator helped me plan and
detail my newspaper to put it
all together. I think that I used Illustrator more
than InDesign as I felt more comfortable with
the techniques and styles. With Illustrator I
made the advertisements and the
newspaper front cover and second page. I
think that it worked better on Illustrator rather
than InDesign as I understood the tools more
on Illustrator.

11. I used InDesign to plan and design
the newspaper and make the layout of it. I
found it easier to plan it on InDesign and then
move it to Illustrator rather than just use
Illustrator. Also because InDesign had some
different techniques and ways of changing the
settings and layout I tried my newspaper on it
first but found it easier and more interesting to
work with Illustrator.

12. I found using IWeb quite fun as I
could do and put whatever I
wanted into my web page rather than having a
layout kind of already planned out with the
newspaper. I had more freedom as it could have
and be whatever I wanted it to be (so long as it
was to do with my newspaper). I made a Home
page which is like a welcoming page too. The
second web page I decided was going to be
about news in the local area. This is because it
links in with newspaper more as the topic is the
same.

13. I often used my phone
to write down ideas or
take photos when I didn’t
have my camera. I then used Bluetooth to
take the photo’s from the phone and put
them on to the computer in order to add
them to my product. My phone only has 8.2
Mega pixels so it meant that I had to change
some of it on Photoshop to make it as good
as the photo’s from my camera.

14. I used my camera to take
most of the photo’s for my
product as the photo’s
have to be my own. The camera has 10.2
Mega pixels which is better than my phone
and therefore made it easier to edit and
change on Photoshop. I connected the
camera to the computer with the USB lead. This
made me able to transfer and edit pictures on
the computer.

16. I used Word to type up all my
notes and thoughts on each of
my screen grabs. I then copied and pasted it
to my blog to save time writing it out again.
Using Word was easier and more sufficient as it
told me when I had spelt something wrong or if
my sentences didn't make sense. Whereas on
blogger it does not tell you and therefore
makes it harder to spot my mistakes.

17. I used PowerPoint Presentation for all of my
evaluation questions as I found it simpler
and more professional to add in photos
and links to it. PowerPoint was better to use
than just typing it out as it meant I could
bring it to life more and explain things in
greater detail with pictures and video clips.

18. The blog holds all my information and ideas
for the whole product. Using Blogger was
fairly easy as I could update videos, pictures
and copy and paste Word documents onto
it. It was simple to upload photos and videos
to as and took no time at all doing so. This
meant I could focus more on the practical
rather than the blog and whether it was
uploading or not.

19. I used the scanner to scan in any paper work I
had done at home on pieces of paper. I think it
mostly ideas and things I wanted to try out on
the Mac. Such as changing around the layout
or trying a different colour.
The printer was useful as it meant I could print it
off and see what it would be like as it was an
actual newspaper. This helped me see if the
colours were too bright or dark and it looked
professional like a local newspaper was.

21. Facebook was a good way to find out
what other people thought of my products.
Each time I change something I would
normally ask one or two of my friends to
write what they dislike about it and what
they like about it or post it to my wall and
ask everyone their opinions.

22. All my photos were put onto Flickr as it was
a good way of keeping all of my photos in
group so that they were tidy and easy to
find. This also meant I could post the link on
my blog so that if anyone else wishes to see
some of the photos I thought of using but
decided not to, they can.

23. I uploaded all my evaluation questions to
SlideShare as it was not possible to just
upload them to my blog. SlideShare is
the middle and between the m and
helped me join my PowerPoint to the
blog.

25. Overall I liked the Poster the best as I could
change the colour depending on the place it
was going to be. Such as at a bus stop it could
be a colour that matched with the buses
colours of completely opposite to make it stand
out more. If it was put up near a park or
somewhere with greenery I thought that the
colour should be green as it links in with the
surroundings. I also liked having the freedom to
put things where I wanted them to be on the
page rather than having a certain layout. It
meant that I could put the title at the bottom of
the poster if I wished and it would still look good
as the audience can still see the name and are
drawn to it.

26. I didn't like my Home web page as much as
I like the News web page. I think that was
because I found it difficult to adapt on what
to put on it and where to place things. I felt
that the Home web page should have been
the best out of the two but was
disappointed as it didn't turn out the way I
would have liked.

27. If I had more time or the chance to do it
again I would have changed the Home web
page because out of all my work I felt that
piece was the one I disliked the most. I think I
would have changed the layout of where I
put the normal advertisements and where I
put the advertisement for the newspaper as I
felt that the focus was taken away by the
other advertisements.