The Masthead Of My Newspaper

The Masthead Of My Newspaper

For media course work i have to produce a local newspaper to the area i live in Porishead. Due to the fact that it will only include information that is relevant to portishead i feel that it is very important to make it clear to individuals that they would only get a select amount of news because if it isn't current to Portishead them it won't be included. To make this clear to people i have decided to Place Portishead in the name so readers are aware that the newspaper is  local.

Once deciding  the first half of the name i believed that individuals need to recognise that this newspaper was going to inform them of events in portishead.

I brainstormed some idea's down and was debating which one to choose.I defiantly new i did not want to use post because that would be my competitors name which could confuse customers. However i could not make mine own choice therefore i did a survey to find out which was the most popular name to go with Portishead.The results from the questionnaire showed one winner that got a third of the votes.  

From my research i found that Press is the most popular name with people in my street and consequently i have decided to use the name for my newspaper. The Portishead Press which i think with the alliteration makes the name have a bit of a rhyme and become more memorable.

THE PORTISHEAD PRESS 

 I have decide that i would like to add a symbol into my name somewhere that represents a bit of Portisheads history it needs to be something that every individual will be aware of so they understand the symbol. To start i have got to do some research into Portisheads history to see what i could use. In the history of Portishead there are three main factors that took a significant change to peoples lives here. 

The first to occur was they developed rapidly in the 19th century in transport infrastructure that allowed the docks to become a fishing port.

Later in the 20th century a power station and chemical works were

added to Portisheads business.It was later expanded and renamed    Portishead A Power Station and Portishead B Power Station opened in the early 1950s. Both power stations were coal-fired however Portishead B Power Station's had one-third of its boilers oil-fired and two thirds coal-fired. Both power stations were later converted to fully oil-fired operation.

Towards the  end of the 20th century they added a telephone control centre used by British telecoms(BT) for non-direct dialled calls to maritime vessels which was know as portishead radio.

 

Before doing the research the only event i was aware of was the power station because there are pictures put up around Portishead with the an image of Portishead with the power station. I did some further research and found a news report of when the power station was demolished in the late 1970s and early 1980s and found that it caused split attitudes through out portishead. Therefore i have chosen to use the power station as my symbol.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLFygH9418M



 The Symbol

Immediately i wondered how it would be possible to include the power station as my symbol and for the name still to be noticeable. I started by experimenting with some drawing so i could see whether it would be possible without looking to cluttered. I used the picture from earlier to sketch  the power station however i found very quickly that it was going to be a simple drawing other wise there would not be enough room for the writing. In the end i thought i would use to different boilers due to the fact that when it was  demolished there were two side by side.     

 The Portishead power station had two chimney which gave me the idea that they could be used as the P's. After drawing it i added the smoke so they resembled P's more. However i felt that the image of the power station was to large and took over the masthead.

 To resolve my problem of the image being to large i decided to use one chimney for the P of Portishead then the second for the I so it is not as excessive because i want it to look gentle and natural. However this means that the writing has to be on two different levels making it appear informal. 

So to make the writing all on one level i thought i could include a few of the letters into the picture. This did solve the problem of having writting on different levels but created another problem of it made it difficult to see what the title was saying.

Finally, i solved all my problems by moving the image to the end of Portishead and the start of  Press therefore it is not interrupting the words but is still involved. One of the chimneys is part of the d then the P i think this is the best option because the words a clear and the symbol isn't to big but is noticeable.    

I thought that i had placed my symbol in the correct place although when it came to planning my layout i discovered that there is not enough space for a masthead that long. Accordingly i have excluded the word the all together to make it shorter. This gave me enough free space to place the symbol in between the two words which i think looks formal.     

Fonts 

From the research i have done it is clear that the font can change whether the newspaper looks modern or traditional therefore it is important to get the right font. While looking through the fonts i found there was a wide variety and i am unsure of which one to choice so i am going to ask my family.   

1)FONTS

2)FONTS             

3)FONTS

4)FONTS

5)FONTS

6)FONTS

7)FONTS

8)FONTS

9)FONTS

10)FONTS

11)FONTS 
12)FONTS

There is a variety of newspaper fonts however i have found that a large majority of newspapers have their masthead in capital letters,maybe to stand out against their competitors. So for my masthead i am also going to be doing it in capital letter like the other newspapers.    

From the research i had done i found that font number 9 looks like the most traditional newspaper font. With that in mind i am going to use that font.

Portishead  Press



Page 1 Of The Post

The Page 1 Of The Post

The Post has decided to do a double page spread over page 1 and 2. On page 1 of their double page spread they have split into three sections.

On the left hand side they have done a big story of an bomb fright in Cabot Circus in Bristol that was the day before the post was published. They have four small picture of the inconvenience it caused to Bristol's day life.  Then in the centre they have a bigger picture of a police officer putting the bomb out showing how serious it was.

 

Then at the top right they have their main storey of page 1&2 which is about a Bristol solider that was killed while on duty in Afghanistan and his body has return to Bristol for funnel. They have used the biggest font and in their they have done alliteration of the letter B with Bristol,body,back and Briton. The alliteration give the title an empathises on the fact a local person has died fighting and is being flown back for his funnel. It also creates a bit of rhyme causing the storey to become remembered more. They have used a large  picture of soldiers caring his coffin with an British flag over this resembles how important the job is that he was doing and proud his colleges are of him. They have also included a small picture of him in his uniform just so everyone can put a face to the name because it is easier to sympathise if the reader is aware of what the individual looks like. 

Lastly at the bottom they have done a storey on fans missing part of the Bristol City game due to bad traffic. That they are going to finish on a later page.        




Page 1 of The Weston Daily Press

Page 1&2 Of The Weston Daily Press

This is page 1 of The Weston Daily Press. On the left hand side they have given a summary of what the newspaper includes and were the reader can find the story. They have also put the stories into sub sections of individuals interests like sport, farming, charity ect.

On the right hand side they have included a line of three small stories that are national. They didn't include any pictures and they just summarised they stories.

In the centre they have their main stories of the page which is carried on from their front page of a local man who killed his best friend.They have include a small storey of the friend who got killed because on the front page they have a picture of the killer. 

Lastly they have done a story on the bottom of a local carer that stole from their client and spend the money on a night out with friends. They have not included any pictures in this story which represents the serious the story has.    

Page 1 &2 Of The Times

Page 1&2 Of The Times

Page 1   

Page 1 of the Bristol times is split into 4 sections, down the left side they have a noticeboard that provides individuals with the contact details of each council in North somerset. They have also included Clevdons tide table to allow everyone to know when it is safe to go on the beach or not.

At the top they have got a very colourful advert for the website of the newspaper providing advertisment for themselves. They have done it as the brightest part of the page so people notice it. They also have used large font that can be clearly read for the website so nobody makes mistakes.

Then they have their main storey with the largest title which was to do with the town council giving lots of money to sporting activities due to the Olympics. With these stories they have done a unusual lot of writing.

Lastly they have done a fourth storey about young children enjoying sports and they have been given medals at school which links with their main storey. This storey has a large picture of children in their casual clothes looking relaxed and enjoying school.

Page 2

On their page they have split into 3 section, the first being a big picture of a teddy bears picnic at Nailsea pre-school with a little message say good luck at big school. The photographer has gone for a classic school photo but with the children sat down with their bears.

Their second story is to do with an on going story in the times about a skate park being allowed to open in Portishead. Finally they have been given the punish to open it so they have been given a bigger section of the papper. They have included a small picture with the owners and a few teenage boys who are their target audience with their bikes looking really happy. They have taken the picture outside the hopeful location.   

The Times have also put a board round the edge of advertisement for local business providing the newspaper with a source of income and supporting the local business.                            



Page 1&2 Of The Bromely Mail

Page 1&2 Of A Newspaper 

This image is of page 1 and 2 of the Bromley Mail, they have chosen to do a double page spread of one main story in the top centre about a local hero that has gone out of his way to improve the local travel for his daughters generation. They have done the title 'The Local Campion' which announces that the family man has been successful in his fight for better transport. They have used the largest font for this title of the whole page which tells you that the story is the most relevant to the people that live in Bromely. For the main storey they have also add a background colour of deep blue that makes the story stand out but it also blends into the picture. To contrast the blue they have used an gold colour for the title maybe to symbolise the fact that he has been successful in his actions.

In the main story, they have done a huge picture of the man with his wife and kids in what looks like their family home. The photographer has put the dad in a position of leaning of his daughter as if he is protecting her like he is in the story. The picture slightly over laps causing them to have a short title and the summary at the top has had to be in smaller font so they don't touch each other. 

      

At the bottom left hand side they have done a small story about Bromley's environmental plans for the future. They're are having an debate of what is for the best so they are just up dating their readers on the progress of the local environment.    

At the bottom on the middle they have used an image to go with a national story about a discovery they have made about Queen Marry. The image they have used of 3 male leaning over a computer as if they are looking at the research that they have found. The man are dressed in suit to show that they have some sort of authority and are important to the local community.

In the top right hand corner they have done an update of local news that can quickly be read and will be relevant to everybody because it will change the community.   

Questionnaire results

Questionnaire Results  

Question 1: What gender are you?

This question makes people aware that my sample was not totaly a fair reprsentation of newspaper readers because from the people i asked the majority were males. However from my results it suggests that more males reader newspapers maybe due to the cotent because traditionally the males would sort out the day to day life of the family motor section, business, sports section ect. 


Question 2: What age are you?

This question was added so it could be seen what life stage my sample were, i tried to add a mixture of age groups however i asked more under 21's and they did not both to fill out my questionnaire beacuse they do not read newspapers. From my questionnaire it could be assumed that more people aged 61+ read newspapers maybe because that is what they were brought up with or making a big steryotype they would be retierd and have the time to buy and read the newspaper.    

 

Question 3:HoW oFtEn Do yOu ReAd A nEwSpApEr ?

 

I added this question because i wanted to find out wether newspapers were a large part of peoples everyday life or if they hardly noticed they were there. From my results i can see that the majortity of people read newspaper once a week so they aren't the most form of media but they are still used. 

Question 4: Which media would you perfer your information is given?

 

Now i have found out how often a newspaper is read i decided to see what form of media my sample preferred to be informed. The television and newspaper which came out on the top are the most traditional forms of media used to tell infoormation. I belive that people like reading a newspaper because that is what they have been brought up with.  

Question 5: What newspaper do you read?

Question 6: WHAT ELEMENTS MAKE A NEWSPAPER GOOD?

Question 7:Would you base your opinion on the newspaper on the front page?