Myself and Joe chose this newspaper to look at first because it is our local free newspaper.We wanted to stu
dy the conventions of like products becau
se our newspaper should follow those conventions. The conventions we spotted are as follows.
The title for this newspaper is positioned at the top of the page, this appears typical for all newspapers. It is in a bold font for ease of identification. Adverts are positioned in a line underneath, to attract the readers' attention with an inside story or a competition. This makes the paper eye catchi
ng and attractive to potential readers.
The headline is in bold font and is very large. It uses as few words as possible to convey the main story. Again, this attracts the attention of potential readers.
The photograph does not have anything to do with the main story, but it does almost fool the viewer into believing, at first glance, that it does, because of its placement. It appeals to our nature to be interested in unfortunate or gruesome things, and may tempt the audience into reading the paper for this reason.
Adverts are displayed in a list with a variety of colours to draw attention. As there are likely 'classifieds' type adverts inside, it becomes obvious how the newspaper earns its revenue.
The text under the headline; "'distressed' teacher found at base of cliffs" gives a little more information but still withholds the details, and this, obviously is how we are drawn to reading the paper.
The text is arranged in two columns, three if you include the section to the left of the page. The font is very small so no detail can be seen from afar.
The mode of address is quite casual but is not entertaining. This suggests that it is aimed towards a working-class, middle aged person, who is worried about the issues in the paper.
This is the Metro, it is a newspaper that is free at train stations, newsagents in the city, tube lines, etc.
The title is slightly different in this case, it is positioned in the top left, although it is still at the top of the page. It is in white, on a navy background, so it stands out, as do
es the 'free' banner in the top left corner. The font is a sans serif (it lacks bridges) and it shares that with the News Shopper, however the Metro title is even more modern because of the odd angles and the bold presentation of the font. This suggests it is aimed at a younger audience than the News Shopper.
The rest of the page is set out a bit differently as well, as the headline is
positioned closer to the right, with the 'in briefs' down the left side, as opposed to the way the News Shopper is set out. The in briefs advertise what is in the rest of the paper.
Again, the main picture has nothing to do with the story - it is a picture of the model Lily Cole at the premiere of a film. I think they have used this picture to attract people to pick it up as we are all interested in beauty. The representation is that it is good to put women on the front of newspapers because women are interesting to read about - for men, perhaps it is because they are attractive and aesthetically pleasing, and therefore interesting to look at and read about, for women, they are idols to admire and look up to, and also therefore interesting for mostly the same reasons. So it would make sense that a woman's picture is on the front of the paper, to attract readers, and I believe that most copies of the Metro I have seen while travelling into the city have indeed had pictures of female celebrities on the front page.
Again, the font size is small, an assumed uniform font for all papers.
The paper overall is less colourful
and confusing than the News Shopper. The layout is cleaner and more modern and that suggests it is designed to interest people who may no have read the paper before, and its clean layout means that people would be attracted to the paper, even if they are in a hurry, whereas somebody glancing at the News Shopper may be confused by the layout and colour.
The mode of address is very casual. It uses slang ('thugs', 'crossdressers'
, 'yobs') and tells the story in an almost comical manner, as if you are speaking to a friend. Again, this suggests that the paper is aimed towards a younger audience.
The first thing that struck me about this paper was its headline and title in a font with serifs. This instantly told me it was probably a paper aimed at older people, in contrast to the Metro. On the right, there is a picture of David Beckham, which instantly draws the attention of the viewer because of his striking red T-shirt next to the blue of the title. Adverts are places under the title and on the right hand side, which is a typical layout and doesn't break any conventions. I think this newspaper is meant to be a typical newspaper- probably aimed at older people because of the text and conventional layout.
I think when creating our newspaper, we should keep in mind that serif fonts are associated with older readers, in order to make pur newspaper appeal to our target audience.
I think the Sevenoaks Chronicle is the most unconventional newspaper I have looked at so far. The title is in a sans serif font, the 'chronicle' in a cobalt blue that looks professional and clean. It gives the newspaper a youthful image, much like the Metro. However, the title completely conflicts with the use of a serif font for the headline, which makes the newspaper seem old-fashioned and not in-keeping with the style of the title at all.
The layout is quite unconventional, too. The title is centred instead of off to the left side. The main picture appears to be a cartoon instead of a photograph and the cobalt blue is displayed throughout the frontpage to tie the whole layout together. The possible target audience for this paper, I think, is quite confused. It has elements of both modern and old-fashioned layout and usage of text and I think when we create our newspaper, we should tie all the fonts in together and try to represent the same audience through everything that is printed on the front page.
