Advert Flat Plan

These are very basic ideas for what my adverts might look like. I am not entirely sure I will keep to these exact designs. The 2 for 1 will contain a lot of colour and the numbers will be in bold. The 'for' will be small compared to the numbers to add interest and variation to my product. The rest of the information will be in plain text and possibly look 3D.

The bottom advert will be a circle placed somewhere inside the cover. I want it to look 3D and stand out from the page. I was thinking of making it red, creating an interesting colour scheme but will most likely go against this idea. The word music will be larger to attract attention and allow it to stand out from the rest of the text. 

Building the Poster

Below are the screen shots of my first attempt at building the poster. Personally I think I can improve on the design as it lacks the overall professional feel, and I will try on improving it in my next attempt. 

I began by opening a blank A4 size document on Photoshop CS5.5.

I then traced around a map of cornwall and scanned it into my document. Since it was a traced image the inside was not filled, therefore allowing the background to be seen through it. I used the fill tool to fill the image with white, therefore creating the illusion that it was a solid object and not a single line. I chose to place the image in the top right hand corner because I felt that the object looked like a lightning bolt coming down, and it also allows room for text to be placed underneath. 

I used brushes to create different effects of clouds to give the poster depth, though I was not happy with the bottom left one, since I felt it made the poster look too 'corny' and unprofessional. Going with my idea that the drawn Cornwall image looked like a lightning bolt I darkened the brush image to connote a thundercloud. Going on my previous idea I chose to edit out the lower brush mark, and I feel that now my poster is starting to take on a professional and sleek feel. I have room now to add my masthead and any other information.

I added a text layer onto my poster, though it wasn't my masthead. This is allowing me to gain a general idea of how my poster could be laid out and what it will look like with text on the page. The black and white brushes and text now makes me feel like colour is the next step to improve my product. However, I feel that by adding the wrong colour it could break the poster rather than make it.

I also added a tag line, which I feel sums up my newspaper. This will be in the middle of the poster as the eye is drawn to this area first. 

I began by adding colour to the white background, and I first chose purple because it connotes royalty. It also could be said to be an unusual colour for a common convention for a newspaper. I personally felt that a block colour would ruin the poster, therefore I used the gradient tool. After reflecting back on this I feel that it does not work for my product.

I then moved onto a green gradient because I feel that it contrasts the dark colours of the clouds nicely. I changed the opacity so that it fades, and then laid the gradients on top of each other to create the lines seen below. 

Overall I feel that this is not the best layout for my poster. I am happy with the top half; I need to find a colour that works with the dramatic brush effect. I also feel that I should add words inside of Cornwall that has links to my paper; either text taken out of my stories, or words describing my product. I also need to add my real masthead and change the font for the tag line. 

Unemployment Story

Since my newspaper is aimed at young people I wanted to include a secondary story that would interest them because it effects them personally. From entering secondary school the main focus is on what will happen after you leave, and since the main news always reports on the negative side of jobless youths, I wanted to bring a twist to the tail. 


Below is my first draft of the youth unemployment story I intend to run as one of my secondary stories. 

 IS THERE HOPE FOR UNEMPLOYED YOUTHS?

AS employment figures rocket to a new high of 6.67 million, there are fresh local fears for the future of 16-19 year olds who are currently seeking work. The Cloud spoke to Bodmin Town Mayor Ralph Solomons to find out more about this frustrating situation for the Duchy’s youngsters…

“I think there is a very real concern for youngsters in Bodmin. We know that Bodmin is in the top five areas for unemployment in the Country and it is showing all ready because there are far too many young people out of work and wandering around the streets with absolutely nothing to do and really no futures” Solomons commented.

He added that this problem could have a negative impact on society at large because crime rates are rising as a direct response to unemployment; “We know from talking to senior police that recently there has been a mini crime wave in Bodmin.”

When we asked the question of why he believed this to be happening he said it seemed to be concentrated in an age group of about 15-19 years and we can only assume these are young people who have got nothing to do and no money. “They are resorting to crime to firstly give themselves self esteem and secondly so that they have money to spend.”

Solomons does however feel the future could hold fresh opportunities for Bodmin’s youngsters; “On a positive note we know that Bodmin is one of the few towns in Cornwall that is actually expanding. We have what we call a master plan, and within that master plan we can see over the next 20 years Bodmin expanding by nearly 50% and one can only hope that this will bring jobs with it.”

However, there are concerns regarding the quality of these jobs as Solomons says; “What we worry about is the quality of jobs because far too many Cornish youngsters leave Bodmin, leave Cornwall, to go to university and never come back. In fact my own three children were educated in Cornwall, went to University in Cornwall but have never worked in Cornwall. I think this situation is to the detriment of Cornwall in many ways. How to resolve that? I wish I new.” 

Looking at common conventions of newspaper articles

An article from an editor

I’m sure you must have watched the television coverage of the riots last night, as I did, with increasing concern and, yes, fear.

But there was also a sense of inhabiting a parallel universe. For those of us lucky enough to be in work, the years of economic gloom have seemed like a phoney war. We may have tightened our belts somewhat, but life has remained pretty much the same.

Yes, the rioters are damaging their own communities, laying waste not only to cars and buildings, but also undermining the hopes and aspirations of their neighbours.

But for so many of them, what else is there? These are the truly disenfranchised, the people for whom the eurozone crisis and the volatile markets might as well be on a different planet.

While the children of the middle classes whinge about the lack of first time-buyer mortgages, and the cost of university fees, these children – and many of them are children – have no more chance of owning a home or earning a graduate-level salary than they have of sprouting wings.

They are the result not of the new, credit-crunch poverty, but of an older deprivation – a marginalisation that is not only economic but also racial in its origins. A volcano does not suddenly erupt without a long period of growing tension deep in the earth. In the same way, riots do not come from nowhere. That pressure has been there a long time.

There was something quite chilling about the way the fires seemed to spread. Hackney, Lewisham, Peckham, Croydon – it was difficult to suppress the suspicion that some plan was being played out.

How organised, I wonder, will the government response be? Can we expect a co-ordinated strategy that will make a real difference? And if so, what should that strategy be?

The lexis used in the  above will also appear in my own work. Even though this is a letter I have chosen to analyse this because it featured in a recent newspaper, therefore having the same style and tone as the other articles. The first sentence uses emotive language such as 'increasing concern' and 'fear' which sets the tone for the rest of the letter. It wins the reader over by using the phrase '’Im sure you must have'. This brings the readers own personal experiences into the story and makes them want to read on; to support the editor because they felt the same way, or to go against his view because they felt the opposite. Either way this small phrase works well in drawing the reader into the article. 

The next paragraph uses the same emotive language and phrases to gain the readers support even more. Starting with the word 'but' makes the letter very informal and puts the reader at ease. The letter consists of simple to compound declarative sentences with a few interrogative sentences to make the reader think, mainly found towards the end of the letter. This is done so that the reader goes away thinking about what he/she has read; the whole point of an article/letter. 

Overall the article uses language to engage the reader, and draw them into the story, something I will also use when writing my own articles.

Sections for the newspaper

When creating my website I want to have some idea of what headings and links I will place along the top. To gain some ideas into common conventions of real products I screengrabbed newspaper websites sections and analysed them below.

The first noticeable thing about this tabbed bar is the order of links. News of course comes first, and has  sub-links under it to group related stories such as 'UK' or 'People'. This allows it to meet the target audience because it keeps the audience interested but also allows them easier access to the stories they are after. The colours do not make the bar stand out from the rest of the page but this then makes sure attention is not taken away from the main story. I am surprised at the order of the tabs, with sport closer to the left than I thought it would be, and opinion second. Personally I thought 'opinion' would be better placed with 'blogs' and 'student' but this is obviously the newspaper trying to attract their target audience by showing that the readers voice is held in high regard. I think I would use student, arts and ents, sport, and news out of the tabs below for my own product as this meets my target audiences needs. 

The first tab here is 'home' which is a good idea because it allows the reader to always have the option of going back to the first page. This again has sub-tabs which link to features found in the newspaper such as horoscopes and property. It also advertises the new iPhone App, which means that more of the target audience can be hit with the product. The colour blue connotes masculinity and also is the main colour of the newspaper therefore making the blue background of the sub-tabs a good choice. News is second next to U.S and columnists is placed last. Sport becomes fourth which again is very high compared to what I was expecting to find and therefore I will also place it around the same area on my own product, following the common conventions of real products. Coffee Break is a tab by itself which is interesting but allows viewers to read news in short clips while on a lunch break, again making sure their target audience requirements is hit. Personally I will follow some conventions but not all because I feel this lacks in some professionalism even though this is a published website. 

 The last tabbed bar I was analyse is very simple and plain. The main colour is black, which comes across very as formal for a website, and there is no sub-tabs. Again 'home' is placed first therefore I will also follow this convention because I like the idea of my viewers being able to link back to the main page without hitting the back button in their browser. Sport comes straight after news showing that this is a common convention and 'blogs' is further to the left than on the first screenshot showing that this website is more interested in the viewers opinion. Finance, culture and travel all prove that the target audience for this website and newspaper is a group of people who have money, and enjoy exploring the riches of the world. Overall I enjoy how simple this is and would like to replicate the style. 

Art Story

This week Hannah Ford, who is heavily involved in the Art Department, has been selling her products such as T-Shirts and mugs to raise awareness about war in underlying messages throughout her work and giving the profit to charity. I spoke to her about why she wanted to commit to this project and what she planned on doing next. The following is my first draft on her project:
This is a good story to cover because my target audience is youth, therefore showing hard work of students in a local newspaper can only encourage other to follow suit.  This represents the target audience because the age of the interviewee and allows students to feel proud of themselves and others around them. This fits in with Halls Storm and Stress Model again. As a first draft I think this is starting to take shape because I have followed the basic rules of reporting (who, what, where, when and why) and have started to represent the needs of my target audience in terms of mode of address, language and interviewees. To improve this in my final draft I need to attain quotes from teachers who work at Bodmin College and make sure the story flows when read.

Building the Masthead

I wanted to create something unique, something that will attract young people to buy my product and I felt that the mastheads I have looked at still are too formal for my product. Therefore I used stamps and scanned them into Photoshop. I also chose to add an outline of a cloud for the text to sit in since this helps meet my target audiences needs. Below are my screen shots of building the masthead.

The first item on my to do list was to draw a simple, cartoon like cloud, which meets my target audiences needs. I felt happy with the result because the shape is simple but with the masthead inside, also eye catching. This is breaking common conventions of mastheads, and creating something new, such as what Bentley said. The colour purple will be desaturated in photoshop to create a silver cloud.

After scanning in the drawn image I placed it in a new photoshop document and rotated it around to landscape, which means I could edit the masthead easier.

I chose to make the photoshop document size A4 as I could get an overview of the size my masthead would be when printed out. This allowed me to edit it confidently without making the mistake of making it too small, and therefore it becoming blurred, or too big where it could become pixelated.

I enlarged the cloud to fill the top half of the document by holding down the shift key, making sure that the image kept the same ratio and did not become stretched etc.This is important in editing because when I add my text I did not want it to look out of line.

I then added my stamps to the document and had to edit some of the backgrounds since they were white. This was perhaps unnoticeable by printscreening the photoshop document but when placed next to each other, the backgrounds overlapped and some of the letters where missing.

I chose to place the letters really close to one another to not show any white space, but also to make them as big as possible. I personally think that by having the cloud around the text this meets my target audiences needs by creating something young, modern and innovite

The last thing I did before my final piece was to desaturate the whole document and made sure all the letters where placed properly. I then merged all layers and my masthead was completed.