Final Newspaper Billboard Poster

I had originally intended to use this poster as my final billboard poster. However I have now decided to change the headline to something that doesn't give so much away. Changing the headline to 'HOW COULD THEY DO IT?' means the reader will be more drawn into the newspaper which means the headline will be fulfilling its main purpose.

Possible Headlines-

Research into local newspapers has revealed that stories that are generally found on the front page are important to the local area, or will interest the target audience- people that live in the local area. Examples of front page headlines found within local newspapers are as follows ..
- 'BOOZE BAN IN TOWN'- Halstead Gazette
- 'CRASH CAUSES PARTIAL ROAD BLOCKAGE'- Halstead Gazette
- 'REFORMED BURGLAR SAYS SORRY'- Halstead Gazette
- 'PHARMACY IN HAVERHILL APPEALS FOR WITNESS TO TEEN TILL THETFT'- Haverhill Echo
- 'SPECIAL GUESTS FOR 100TH BIRTHDAY'- Halstead Gazette
- 'POLICE OUT OF REACH?'- Braintree and Witham Times
It is clear that all of these headlines outline issues within the local area, unlike a national newspaper the stories are more personal and relevant to the local people. For example a wider, national audience would not be interested in the 'booze ban' in a small town. 

So far i have come up with the following headlines for the cover page of the newspaper-
- 'GIRL UPSET OVER STOLEN CAT'
- 'HOW COULD THEY DO IT?'
- 'SQUATTERS IN SQUWALER'

- At the moment i am swayed towards using the headline 'HOW COULD THEY DO IT?'. It seems that this headline is the most effective, the use of a question intrigues the audience and causes them to question what the story might be and who 'THEY' are.
At the moment i am deliberating whether or not to use the same headline on the frontcover of the newspaper as well as the poster, I may use the headline 'HOW COULD THEY DO IT?' on the cover of the newspaper.

After looking at existing local newspaper websites I was able to recognise a layout that was common within these websites. All of the websites I looked at had a simple layout and interactive features that allowed the audience to connect with the website.

Research into newspaper websites-

All of these websites follow a similar layout and they all use the same features. Which is what i plan to replicate in my own website. The key features of the website appear to be

- A Masthead

- Menu bar- with links to other pages on the website

- hyperlinked article headlines

- adverts for local businesses

- interactive features such as feedback forms

- 'log in' feauture

- search bar

- accompanying images for articles

- captions on all photographs

Newspaper Poster First Draft-

This is the first draft of my newspaper poster. At the moment there is a temporary headline when I have created the newspaper front cover I will replace it with the headline shown on that. Seemingly from research he headline will be less shocking but related to incidents within the local area.
             The layout will remain the same with the focus being on the headline, while the masthead will be shown in the centre at the top of the page. The page curl in the bottom right of the page gives the effect of a newspaper page; it is as if the poster can be turned over to reveal more about the story. I have done this to draw the reader in and make them want to go and buy the paper rather than just look at the poster.

Questionnaire Results-

After undertaking a questionnaire it was clear the audience preferred one masthead in particular- Masthead 4 which is shown below. The questionnire involved a sample of individuals aged between 15 and 50 which is the age range i found were most interested in the news in their local area. The table below shows the results of the questionnaire. I have then converted the table of results into a pie chart which claerly illustrates the percentage of the sample that voted for each Masthead.

 

Masthead	Number of ticks
Masthead 1	4
Masthead 2	4
Masthead 3	3
Masthead 4	9
Total	20

The questionnaire results showed that Masthead 4 (shown below) was the favourite of the audience therefore this is the masthead that will be used throughout the production of my coursework.



Possible Mastheads -

The following are mastheads that I have created based on the earlier post about existing local newspaper mastheads. As there are several different options I have decided to make a questionnaire in order to decide which is the most effective and which the target audience like best.

From looking at real examples of newspaper adverts I have been able to identify particular features that are present in all of them…

• Simple colour scheme- usually primary colours
• A Newspaper Logo or the mast head seen on the front cover of the newspaper
• Tagline- also present on the cover of the newspaper
• A headline in capital bold print
• Date
• Use of shortened words – e.g. “N YORK” – New York

Billboard poster for a newspaper

After analysing these existing billboard advertisements for a newspaper i have come up with a layout i feel will suit my local newspaper.

Tabloids, Broadsheets & Local Newspapers

Tabloid- A tabloid is a newspaper with pages that are more compact and smaller than those of a broadsheet, although there are no specific measurements of the tabloid format. Tabloid Journalism tends to emphasise more everyday topics such as sensational crimes, TV and celebrity gossip. This is not always appropriate as ‘The Independent', a broadsheet, is in tabloid format. Generally this layout is used by local newspapers in the United Kingdom.

Broadsheet- a broadsheet is the largest of the various newspaper formats and is characterized by long vertical pages covering all in all more serious news.

Local- a local newspaper adopts a similar layout to that of a tabloid, it is compact and smaller than a broadsheet. A local newspaper concentrates on news in one particular region, for example one particular county or on a smaller scal one particular town e.g. The Braintree and Witham Times. These newspapers document events and news in their local area and seem to remain politically neutral with the local community

Mastheads

All of the mastheads shown above are from local or evening newspapers, and clearly they have some similar features. Only one of the above mastheads doesn't use colour, all of the others use both colour and black and white. The fonts used vary however they are all clear fonts that would be readable from a distance. The use of colour makes the masthead stand out and therefore attract the reader. The coulours used could possibly link to the local area they involve - for example corporate colours or colours used within a local crest. When creating my own local newspaper i will use ideas and features similar to those above in order to create a believable masthead.




NEWSPAPER NAME-

Above is shown a spider diagram i created of initial ideas i had for names of the newspaper. The majority of them are based on names from existing local newspapers, i have altered them in order to suit the area i will b covering within my newspaper. After creating this diagram i assembled a table that would act as a survey to see which name the target audience liked the most. I used a sample of 20 individuals of a variety of ages in order to replicate the likely audience of the newspaper

 Th results showed that the largest amount of the sample liked the name 'The Suffolk Standard' therefore i have chosen to use this name throughout the creation of my coursework. I feel this name is quite catchy as its use of repetition makes it memorable to the audience.

Masthead- The masthead is the title block or logo that is shown at the top of the front page which allows the newspaper to be recognised by the reader. Sometimes there is an emblem or motto shown with the masthead (The Times) or the masthead is embedded into a box. For example ‘The Sun’ is considered a ‘red top’ newspaper and its masthead is within a red box to show this.

 
 

Headline- this is the main statement shown on the cover page, usually in a large and bold font, describing or summarising the main story.  The type of language used in a headline is likely to differ depending on the intended audience of a particular newspaper. for example 'The Sun' a tabloid and red top is likely to use more informal, colloquial languge and make use of puns and wordplay whilst 'The Independant' is likely to be far more formal.

Stand first-This is an introductory paragraph before the start of the feature. Often it is in bold. This paragraph is usually a summary of the whole story, including basic information of who the story is about, where it took place, and why.