Naming the Newspaper

I firstly had to think of a good name for my student newspaper.

As it is aimed at University Students in Essex, I wanted to incorporate the word 'Uni' into the title, making it clear to the potential target audience.

I thought of a list of words that all had 'uni' in them, and noted them down.

By placing them together in a photoshop document, it gave me a chance to look at them and pick what ones I thought stood out.

I originally liked Universal, but realised this may be an issue as there is already the media company 'Universal Studios'. I also liked Uniformer, as the paper is to inform students, but then I thought this was a bit long for the name of a paper. I then set my sights on Unique, as I have personally never seen a local newspaper aimed at students and the younger generation, so this itself makes the paper Unique in its own right.

After continuing to look at my list of shortlisted potential names, I decided to stick with Unique, as it seemed to give the right feel to the paper and the fact it is unique in its content.

I started to design a masthead for my paper in Photoshop, which would also be the logo and image used to promote the paper, in adverts and also for its website. This meant it being simple yet effective, so I decided to just use a splash of colour, red, which is usually seen in the masthead of local and tabloid newspapers. along with a simple block colour of grey to make the name itself stand out.

After much trial and error, my finished masthead looked like this above. 

I chose this font as it gives a formal feel to the paper, but decided to use the red colour for the 'Q' as it makes is stand out and is eye-catching. I didn't want the whole of the name to be in red, as found in the research phase, red top newspapers are often associated with informal gossip or celebrity based news, but my just using a hint of red, it shows the  is local not completely formal with an element of fun to it, which appeals to students. Combined with the choice of font and style, still gives a formal feel.

Researching my project

To begin my project I must firstly research into the genre of newspaper I am making. Research will also include looking at my potential target audience and unique selling points to make my product desirable for people to buy.
Firstly I am going to look my local paper and how it is set out.

 

 The 'Echo' is my local newspaper, which provides local information, news and events which are happening close by. As there are two universities and plenty of colleges in South Essex, my paper will be aimed at the students whom attend these Uni's and colleges, so the paper needs to include interesting and relevant news to the area.

Like the 'Echo' it will focus on stories based around the area, and about real local people, and also include adverts for places nearby. The masthead I will create will be quite simple like the 'Echos' one, and include the symbolic red text colour, making it easy to address the paper as a local or tabloid form.

I went onto do some genre specific research, including looking at an online student paper.

This again used the traditional red colour for the masthead, making it easy to see on first glance that it is an informing paper or text. A British newspaper that has its name in red at the top of the front page have a lot of readers, but are not always considered to be as serious as other newspapers, and emphasize topics such as sensational crime stories, astrology, and TV and celebrity gossip. Local papers have also taken this form and structure on board, and use a red masthead and tabloid dimensions. More formal papers such as 'The independant' do not use a red masthead, as they are a broadsheet paper. Broadsheets deliver more political and serious news, or back a certain political party and act as a source for political activism by reprinting speeches.

The aim of my newspaper is to deliver relevant news to its readers and inform them of whats going on around them. Being a student myself helps make my newspaper appeal to other students as I can use myself when questioning what students might want to see in a newspaper. I made a questionnaire to hand to 30 students around my college to see what students would actually like to see in a student newspaper.

The results I found are seen in the following chart-

 

My newspaper will meet the needs of its target audience by including the above items and stories, and in order make the newspaper a success.

A2 Brief Of Work

A2 COURSEWORK

For my A2 Media Coursework, I will be creating two pages of a local Newspaper, with the content and theme of my choice. I will also be creating 2 linked pages from the Newspapers website, and a print advert advertising the newspaper. I will be using the programs InDesign, Photoshop and Dreamweaver to create my coursework and will be recording my progress using this blog, and going on to evaluate it once it is finished.

Firstly I will need to decide what sort of newspaper I would like to create. My first initial ideas were;

• Local Fashion Paper
• Local General News
• Local Sport Paper
• Local Student Paper

I thought about the sort of information, places and people I see everyday, and decided that seeing as I am a student, a student newspaper would work in my favour as I have access to the college, students and surroundings which I can use for photos and inspiration in my coursework.
The skills I gained through AS Media coursework will help me in using the programs I will need to create my project. These skills will hopefully be improved and I will learn more about the programs as I make progress with my Newspaper through the research and design phase.