Making my newspaper 1st page.

This is the PowerPoint where I have recorded each step I went to to make my newspaper’s front page. I

made this PowerPoint while I was making my newspaper page. I have had my newspaper drawn layout plan up while creating my newspaper page.

Getting startedSo I have just clicked on Microsoft Publisher and when it came up I clicked on the blank publications setting. This was so I could design the layout and colours without having to use one of their templates.

Changing page sizeIn order for everything to be in proportion, I changed the size of my page to the traditional tabloid newspaper size of 279mm by 432mm. I haven't figured out how it is going to print, but hopefully I find a device which will help me do so.

Newspaper name In order to know what font I was going to use, I looked back at this post: http://oliviasmitha2mediastudies.blogspot.com/2011/11/definate-features-i-am-including-in-my.html. On this post I hadn't yet decided what the name of my newspaper was going to be so I couldn't see what font would look best with my newspaper name. But this gave me the chance to do so. I looked at these two fonts in my newspaper name and decided finally that I am going to use the bottom one – Bookman Old Style as it is ‘punchier’.

Adding slogan, date and area name.

I then added the date of when my newspaper would be released, I have indicated the area that my news is going to be based on and my all important slogan which will be on my poster, newspaper and radio advert. I made it bold so that it could be recognised. I'm not adding any colour as of yet so that I can get the basic layout sorted and then sort out my colour combinations. I have decided to use the same font as I did for the title for the rest of the text in my newspaper. I think it looks fine and is readable. It is traditional for a newspaper. I will make certain words bold and bigger if I have to in order for them to stand out.

Contact us and QR codeI have just added the contact box where I have then put details for the readers to contact the newspaper. This makes my reader feel like they are welcome to contact us and also it would give me a chance to have some feedback and possibilities of some stories. I have also made my own original scan/QR code on this website: www.qrstuff.com which allows me to create a original code. I have linked it to my blog. I had to crop the scan in order for it to fit perfectly.

HeadlineI decided a while ago that my headline would be ‘Man dies by trampoline’ as I feel like it is shocking, would interest my target audience and also, a lot of people have trampolines nowadays. I wrote very quickly the text of the article (its not what im getting marked for) and the font for the headline is the same font which I have used throughout making – it makes everything come together. The above print screen shows the problem I had. My headline isnt big enough and doesn't fit right on the page. So, the bottom print screen shows how I improved that problem. I firstly had to make the text slightly bigger, so I took it to a size 90. I moved the scan code across so I had more space to fit the headline in. I was a bit concerned because the word trampoline is split and I would have preferred it to have bee split after the letter ‘p’ so the reader can look twice to see if it was a tramp or a trampoline that killed a man. I also started to write my article, making sure that I included key words such as ‘Norwich’ and how he was killed quickly in the article so the fast reader can see what the article is about more in depth than what the headline says. From here I am planning to carry on with the article, making sure that it isn't too long on the front page so that the reader’s will want to carrying on reading by turning over to the next page.

Writing article I firstly made spaces for my articles to go, adding the titles and the pages of where to read the articles. I didn’t really make the font size specific to any other newspaper that I have seen, I chose the size of the font depending on what I was writing, where it was going to be and what looked better. I also made certain texts bold so they stand out and are identified by the viewer as the first thing to look at – therefore the article titles are in bold.

I did decide that the article asking: ‘Are you spending your pension away?’ is maybe aiming towards an audience which is older than I have decided. So, I changed the articles title to: ‘Is this country spending your pension away?” – therefore a wide audience would be interested because nearly everybody knows somebody who is on a pension and they will possibly be on one in the future. I also decided that I would make this article’s title go across most of the bottom of the page because I had spare space which needed to be filled. I have kept in mind that the layout may be changed only slightly because I have to yet add some photos in.

I then wrote the articles on Microsoft PowerPoint and then copy and pasted the text onto Publisher. The article is completely fiction – made up but I still made sure it was as realistic as possible and written in the type of language that my educated target audience would like.

I am planning to, when everything is done, I will make the text boxes clear so they aren’t seen. I haven't planned yet if I am going to outline the texts in a box. I will probably plan this when I am adding colour.

After I wrote it I did go to my focus group for them to write notes on my written articles and the scans and analysis of them will be uploaded soon on a future post.

When they gave me some improvements to make, I adjusted my articles accordingly and copy and pasted them to Microsoft Publisher in the layout I had planned. All of my articles were then in the write place on the front page and then I have had to find photos to put with the article.

Corrected articlesAfter getting my focus group to write notes on the articles I had written (seen on blog), I corrected the mistakes they pointed out and then put the articles onto Publisher. I did have a slight problem that when I went to go put my article on the page, I didn’t have enough text for the article to go onto the next page. So to solve this problem, I wrote more in the article for it to be a worthwhile read. I am making the article go onto the next page so the viewer wants to read on, therefore buys my newspaper. I wrote more of the article on publisher, so I haven't had the benefit of having my focus group note on it. I keep looking back to my drawn drafts to see that I have the layout correct.

Photos for my articleI did take the photos myself so that I wouldn’t get into any copyright trouble and it also gave me the chance to have the photos just the way I wanted and is professional.

I then applied the photos onto my page and moved around the articles slightly depending on if the photos fit. I didn’t change the layout dramatically as I wanted to stick to my original plan.

I like the Johnny Depp article photo because I think that it is very unpredictable and makes my educated target audience question why it is that photo.

I chose not to have a photo with the pension article at the bottom because I feel as if there is no point of it. There needs no picture to further the readers thinking or presumptions of the article because the question says it all.

The Background ColourI have basically done the layout. It didn’t take as long as I thought it would. I have found it hard to decide the colour tone of my newspaper as I think it represents a certain tone of the newspaper for the reader. On this post: http://oliviasmitha2mediastudies.blogspot.com/2011/11/definate-features-i-am-including-in-my.html I said that I wanted darkish tones to the newspaper, much like NME. However, after a bit of thinking I have decided to leave it black and white, exept the photos which will be in colour. I will still print on pearl paper, but it will have more of a tone of a newspaper. I understand this may be a bit late, but I was worried about the cost of printing and the background over-taking what is written – my target audience will be interested in what is written. This photo shows what my final first page looks like. I then realisd that I need to put boxes around each article to define and separate them.

Applying BoxesAs I said in the last slide, I need something to border and define each article. I varied the thickness of the box depending on the importance and size of the article. Each box is black.

I have also changed the layout on slightly and the colour of a photo so the boxes would fit and look better.

I also have put a line under the main headline to separate it from the smaller boxes – it looks clearer.