Font Style

As I have not yet decided on a Title for my newspaper I have chosen a selection of fonts i could use. I have used the word Masthead to represent my newspaper title. I will present these to my focus group to see which font style appeals most.

I have been using the internet for some basic research into fonts and what is most popular used in current newspaper. This research gave me more of an idea of what fonts to use for my first two pages of my newspaper to make it look more appealing.

Internet research I found that the top fonts used in current newspapers are:

• Poynter Series
• Franklin Gothic
• Helvetica
• Utopia
• Times
• Nimrod
• Century Old Style
• Interstate
• Bureau Grotesque
• Miller.

Mock up Layouts

I have created mock up layouts I will present these to my focus group to see which layout they prefer. The most popular layout will be the layout i chose for my front cover.

I have also created mock up contents pages using local newspaper pages as examples.

Layouts of Current Newspapers - Inside Page

I have created the layouts for current local newspapers first page. I have created these using Publisher, this allowed my to use boxes/shapes as outlines. This will give me ideas for my own layout for the inside page.

Current Newspaper Layouts

I have created a current local newspaper layout for the front cover, this will help me come up with ideas for my own front cover layout.

I have created a the layout for current local newspaper content page. This will also give my ideas for my own layout for the contents.

Questionnaire Results

The results from the questionnaires show that 6 out of 14 teenagers ages 16-18 do not read a local newspaper. Those that do read local newspaper more than half will pick up a copy once a week or less.

The reason for my teenager not reading the newspaper is due to the content and the stories published are not interesting.

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Many of my target audience said that they would pay up to 60p for a local newspaper if the content appealed to them. I asked were the most suitable place to distribute a new local newspaper nearly all of the target audience said college. Also the local shops and delivered to the home was appealing to the audience but not asd popular.

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The most popular choice of why the audience access news if for was music, sport and events. These topics were also mention in what is missing or content should be added. As these topics are appealing to my target audience I will include these with in my newspaper.

Questionnaire Results - Charts

As The Echo and Metro were the most popular local newspapers read by my target audience I will look through these papers more often through out my construction of my newspaper to give me more ideas or conventions to follow.

This helps my with the story content of my newspaper and what stories the audience prefer to read.

This question of how do you spend your free time will give me ideas of what my target audience are interested in, for story content or advertisements.

I tried to get a fare amount of both male and females to complete my questionnaire this is so I can have response from both to make my newspaper appeal to males and females.

How old are you, the results only show the similar age range as I handed out to only member of my target audience.

Email

I have constucted an email and sent it to local newspaper, The Metro and The Liverpool Echo. The question I have asked will help me get more ideas for my newspaper, there answer will help me decide content and a layout.

Email adresses:

mail@ukmetro.co.uk

features@ukmetro.co.uk

andrew.campbell@liverpool.com Executive editor

maria.breslin@liverpool.com Head of content

If the newspapers reply I will post the reply at a later date.

Email:

Hello,

My name is Melissa Hampson and I am currently studying A Level Media at Roby Sixth Form. For my coursework I have to produce a local newspaper. For my research I have been analysing current local newspapers, including yours and it would be a great help if someone from your newspaper could give me some feedback please. I have put together several questions if you could please answer some or all of them:

Who is your target audience and what do you target audience like to see the most in your newspaper?

How is the content of your newspaper divided between topics (sport, real life, gossip, factual news, advertisements)?

How do you decide what stories are news worthy for the front page and what stories need images alongside them?

Thanks

Melissa Hampson

Hampson_423@hotmail.com