The document discusses the conventions used and challenged in creating a local newspaper, website, and billboard targeted towards younger audiences. Key elements included using colloquial language in articles, relevant images and ads, and a well-structured but colorful design across all mediums. Feedback indicated the layouts were appealing but some elements like the billboard could be more colorful. The creator learned to follow conventions while adding unconventional techniques.

1. Evaluation

2. Advert Article writer and email Masthead Page references Date, issue price, website Local newspaper conventions Main image Side stories Structure lines Captions Sound clip auto start can click on icon to pause and play

3. Advert Caption Page number Paper name, website, date Column layout Title bold and big size

4. Conventions I challenged The convention I have challenged is the language used or the journalistic style used in local newspapers. As my Local newspaper is targeted towards a younger audience I thought a more colloquial style is required for my local paper to be found appealing to my audience. Also I ensured the language isn’t too advanced which in the end would have made it difficult for my target audience to understand the information being presented. “ Top tips to save your dosh” “ Bad times for young people” “ You may pay more for your insurance than your actual car” “ Keep your eyes out for” “ Winning competitions like it’s a walk in the park” “ Do you really have time to watch all them channels”

5. Billboard conventions used Image Slogan Strong brand representation Reference to the website Contrasting font colours with the gradient background

6. Conventions of local newspaper website Reference to the websites in the video- http://www.suttonguardian.co.uk/ , http://www.thisiscroydontoday.co.uk/home , http://www.southlondonpress.co.uk/index.cfm

7. Conventions used in website http://suttonscene.weebly.com

8. Conventions used and challenged/developed (website) Conventions used: Masthead, Search bar, Weather, Twitter/facebook links, Register login links, Terms and conditions….., Articles, Images, Adverts, Published article date, Poll, Jobs Available, Comment box, Conventions developed was the Comment box as in most local papers it goes unnoticed but I made my webpage with so that this feature stands out as it covers a lot of space as a results has to be noticed thus engaging the users to provide feedback.

9. Masthead ( Both the mastheads are the same graphic ) The colour used a lot is different shades of blue as it is the main theme colour therefore enhancing the newspapers brand identities The adverts mostly are targeted towards my target audience like these two which represents the brand identity The font used is times new roman that once again is strengthening the brand identity as the readers/users are familiar with the font and relate the font to the brand Sutton scene. Brand identity Masthead

10. These 2 articles along with the image can be found on the local newspaper thus making more awareness of the brand by created familiarisation with the articles therefore increasing brand identity. Also the wording is similar as is presented in its simplistic, colloquial style which will strengthen the brand identity

11. Billboard design The Billboard was designed to be simple, express the theme colour and to represent and strengthen the brand identity. As the paper is targeted towards a younger audiences there is an image of a young person reading a newspaper with great interest as a result this will intrigue the target audience as the may suggest that this paper will be perfectly suited for them as a young person seems interested reading the paper as well as its not a simple boring billboard but colorful and stands out which is what young people will be drawn towards. As the masthead is featured on the billboard it leads to a direct reference to the website and is often found that young people will refer to the internet for more information so once the billboard has got there attentions it is most likely they will visit the site and see if it meets there expectations. Blue and white background Young person reading the paper

12. Website design The website was designed to show the target audience that this local paper will not be too formal, too complicated or not relevant to them but it will specifically be aimed at them. That is why the website is very well structured, easy to navigate around, colourful and the material within it is highly relevant or bring interest to the audience. These features set a good impression for the Newspaper as it seem like the paper will be simple, easy to read and not too much advanced complicated information as the language used throughout the website is not too advanced. Also the adverts found on the website will be a big interest to the audience as the adverts are targeted towards them so they will be eager to see the wider range of adverts that will be found on the paper. Advert Different colours and spacious This poll is found on the website and it just shows the relevance the paper has to the audience and this will make the audience think the reading the paper will be very beneficial to them

13. Element of website, newspapers and billboard that reveal the type of newspaper created There are many aspects of the products I have made that shows have tried something different in targeting a younger audience. Masthead “Sutton scene” immediately set an impressions of a younger target audience as scene is referred to in a slang term The article featured are youth orientated or of concerning issues such as Saving money methods like the “top tips to save your dosh” article The adverts are about a funfair and a promotion of a car both of the adverts will most definitely grab my target audience attention as one is a social event and the other is car purchase awareness The language was the most influential element in determining the type of paper I have created. The two quotes I points out is “I did things that came back to shake me up and haunt me” and “top tips to save your dosh” these are slang terms which are not usually associated with the local Newspaper industry but I thought it was important to feature this style in my articles. Youth image Catchy slogan Colourful

14. What I learnt from audience feedback I learnt a lot from audience feedback. There were a lot of positive feedback from my products as indicated by the comments on my blog and the video of two students within my target audience. There was a lot of positive things said about layout of all 3 products as it was laid out in a very structural manner which especially for my target audience was very appealing. Other aspects such as the content. Imagery, use of conventions and relevance to the audience were points that provided positive feedback. Feedback- indicating the well structured layout used

15. Website comments Billboard comments Local newspaper comments

16. With positive feedback there are also negative feedback which I received as well. For instance some thought the website required more adverts to make it more colourful and fill up the blank spaces. The second page of the paper was too text heavy and may not attract the target audience was a point discussed. Also feedback was received to the billboard as some of the audience thought it could have been made more effective for the target audience by adding more colour to it instead of being simple and plain indicating how there is a lot of space on the top of webpage were possibly an advert can be

17. Below is my questionnaire I produced to receive audience feedback. From the results Once again I noticed the audience liked the layout of all 3 products. The least appealing aspect of the products were the billboard was to plain, the second page of the paper looked like it had too much text and the website should have had more colour to make it look more fun and exciting

18. The results received indicate that my products were received well by the audience. From the results the website was the best product followed by the newspaper then the billboard.

19. The two students here were discussing my 3 products they both liked the paper as the layout was excellent combined with the image and text/background colours used. For the billboard the reckoned it was plain and by adding colour to it will make the product more effective but the simplicity was understood as most billboards follow a similar approach. The website was liked because of it user friendliness and its interactivity with it users through the poll and comment box but some aspects were plain were a bit of colour could have helped.

20. From the feedback I have received I have realised to stick to my plan strictly and to not make any major changes along the way as it may ruin the brand identity My brand identity was strong throughout my products. I set myself up to balance the text and image proportion displayed correctly which I did for the majority but for the second page of my paper I included far too much text for the audience targeted in my opinion. Also I understand from the feedback how I didn’t make the full use of colours in certain areas which would have made my product more appealing such as the billboard. The comments made me even strongly believe that a best products are those who follow the most convention accurately and maybe have a good unconventional technique which makes it different and better than its competitors. Furthermore the comments made me understands the importance of producing drafts as you are able to see the positives and negatives thus improve on it. As a results if I produced more drafts eventually my products would have become better.

22. Also in the planning when identifying or constructing my audience I used a lot of references to youtube videos like http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5X4K6Lxd3dg to explain the step I undertaken visually. Too search through youtube takes seconds thus is why it is a very useful software to use

23. I have used a software called prezi frequently through mainly my planning and evaluation. Prezi is known as a zooming presentation editor. Here you can see I created a vast number of prezi’s and the image below is me developing one. This software is extremely easy to use and you can insert videos, sounds and images with ease. The negative aspects of this software are that it doesn't provide many template or shapes so in that area you are limited

24. Throughout the planning I used a hardware device in a scanner to upload my sketches of my 3 products as well as my brainstorms. A scanner isn’t very difficult to use but it was hard to get a scanner that can display large A3 paper sized documents which some of my designs were drawn on. Both of these images are scans of an A3 paper document

25. I used this software (paint) to develop some of my planning and construction work as I was aware that paint was capable of the task at hand. As documents can’t be publish through blogger I required a software that can crop an image and save it as a image file instead of a document file. With paint this was really simple to do that is the reason why I choose this software from the several others choices of software available to me.

26. I used a software called slideshare to publish my PowerPoint presentations on my blog. For my planning I created my mock ups of the front page and 2 nd page on PowerPoint and published them to my blog through slideshare. Furthermore I used slideshare for the planning/research of the three products I have created. Slideshare was also the main software used for the evaluation. The software is relatively user friendly but at first it seem rather difficult to use. Also sometimes it takes a while for the PowerPoint to be processed through slideshare thus is why sometimes errors occur and you have to restart the operation.

27. For the production I used many software's to produce my products. I used Software's such as weebly to design my website, Indesign to create my local newspaper and macromedia fireworks to produce my billboard. I used many other hardware/software's through the use of Photoshop and a digital camera. The pictures all throughout my 3 products were taken from either my mobile phone or a digital camera. The hardware device both took good quality images which allowed my product to be of a better quality but one or two of the pictures were taken where there wasn’t much light and the cameras didn’t have the capabilities to produce an excellent picture. Macromedia firework was a good user friendly software to use but it was limited in certain aspects. For editing text it was excellent but for images it wasn’t as good thus I required Photoshop to edit my picture to a good quality. Photoshop is a very difficult software to use as I required help from more experienced users to complete the job I needed done. However it has all the tool you will need when editing a picture to the best quality possible as a result helping me to produce better quality products . Macromedia fireworks Photoshop

28. Weebly at first was a very difficult website to use and required plenty of time to be able to use the software. However it enabled me to create a live website as well as it had the tools for me to create polls and comment boxes which was a very handy aspect of the software. There also were many templates which enabled me to find the most appropriate template for my product. On the other hand the difficulties with the software was that the template design had to be followed strictly which restricted you to move the materials in the position you would have preferred. Also there could have been more tool such as a three or four column layout instead of just the two.

29. I used a software called Indesign to create my main product my local newspaper. It was an excellent software as it is a specialist software in creating newspapers. Indesign made it very easy for me to structure my newspaper as all the tools required was there. At first it seems difficult to use but then you start becoming comfortable using the software. There are some drawbacks to the software like when you insert graphics on some occasions it seems to turn up differently for instance the mastheads once inserted in the software seems to be darker than the original.