flatplans

After deciding to construct the first two pages of a newspaper for my A2 Media coursework, I firstly designed 2 flat plans and along with it, an essay to explain my choices for certain conventions. When doing the flatplans, I didnt have the full intention to construct my Newspaper fro them, however they were an influential point and will help me anayse my progress with understanding the layout of a Newspaper.

When starting work on my flatplans, I didnt have much knowledge of the newspaper audience, or how they were generally layed out. I decided that the target audience for my Newspaper would be Teenagers heading to University. However after constructive critsiscm from my teacher, she helped me understand that Local Newspapers tend to have an older audience and not be so specififed to a teenage one. This changed my thoughts and opinions on how I would layout my Newspaper.

In my flatplans, my teacher told me I was focusing too much on teenagers, and that since I was constructing a Local newspaper, I need to suit the needs of a much larger audience both female and male, old and young. Adter taking this in account, when constrcuting my Newspaper, I will change colour schemes and certain conventions, as my initial colours I want to use, (blues and pinks), which wont necassirly appeal to men. Another factor I need to take into account is that newspaper ink is expensive, and I should stick to black ink for the text usage as this is more cost effective, and will look more like an existing product.

One of the images I wanted to include on my newspapaer, was a festival one, however again this wouldnt be sticking to a local newspaper convention, as not all age rangers who read local newspapers would enjoy this feature and the event didnt take place in the local region.

SECOND PAGE FLATPLANS

Similarly, with the front page, most my ideas were designed to target specifically teenagers, however the teachers constructive criticism has helped me find a more suitable target audience. I decided to find out more about the target audience of Local Newspapers, so I will carry out a research task, to see if a pattern develops.This way I'll be able to construct a more useful flat plan which will help me produce the product to the correct target audience.

Second construction of flat plans:

Flat plan for front page explained

After deconstructing several Local newspapers, I learnt more about the conventions and why they are positioned the way they are. This influenced me to change my flat plan for my front page to make it more appealing to my target audience and furthermore making it look more realistic.

In the explanation for my first flat plan, I discussed the colors that I intend to use within my colour scheme. I have decided to keep these the same as after analysing existing products, most local newspapers consist of colours that represent their local city.

I have decided to change the layout of some certain features to make my product have a more professional outcome. For example, I have now intended to have ‘PUGS’ at the top of the page which act as the ears of the newspaper. These are USP specifically designed to target my intended audience and strengthen their decision to purchase the paper. The left feature will be an image of a well-known restraint ‘Oak Tree Farm’ featured at Doxford Park and will be accompanied by a slogan to represent it. This feature will focus on the establishment going bust and business decreasing. The feature to the right will be a chance for the audience to win something. I will decide to choose from a range of buzz words such as ‘free’ or ‘win’. This will appeal to my target audience who will see this as a positive reason for buying the paper if they feel they will get something for free. The item they will receive free, I will make sure has something to do with the local surrounding. The audience will see this as more convenient and again will strengthen their decision to purchase the product.

At the bottom of the page, I have decided to position a feature entitled ‘WIN- City break for the family’ followed by the page number. It will be based upon a red block strip, to make it stand out against the other articles. This means that when the target audience, having been attracted to the product by seeing the USPs and the masthead positioned at the direct top of the page, will pull the newspaper out of the stand and immediately be drawn to the bottom feature. Again, the buzz word ‘Win’ that I intend to use will open the readers mind to other connotations today with winning, for example, something free. I have chosen to make the prize be a city break as it is the winter time, and most locals will be fed up with the wintery weather. A city break will make the readers think of a get away from winter. The fact it will say ‘for the family’ registers to the readers the target audience for the newspaper and that the product is family friendly.

Furthermore, I have decided to include a taster article at the side of the main article. The article will be positioned right of the main article image and therefore the readers will become aware of it quite suddenly. The feature a heading followed by a small passage which will alert the audience what they will expect to find on the page. In most cases, the heading of these articles are basic and get to the point simplistically. For example, the article to the left says, ‘Family’s shocked as schoolgirl, 16, found dead’. Due to the limited space, the heading has to form a quick surmise of the article itself. This is a convention I intend to use for my product.

FLAT PLAN FOR WEBSITE