Evaluation

How are you using media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

In what ways will your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

How are you using media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

During the planning and research stages of my media product, I used various technologies like In design, Google, YouTube and so on. The internet was a major source of information for me. I used the famous search engine ‘www.google.com’ to research real media products. Some of the products I researched were South London press 9website, newspaper front and contents page), Hackney Gazette (poster, newspaper and website), Daily mail. After researching these local newspapers, I then pasted the front pages, poster and website on Microsoft PowerPoint and carried out a textual analysis of the conventions in these newspapers. In carrying out this textual analysis, I gained knowledge of particular layouts, fonts and key elements that was essential in producing a successful newspaper. My awareness of the important conventions of a newspaper front page then helped me in creating a layout in In design for my newspaper.

I also used the video sharing website www.youtube.com to distribute market and showcase my product. I used Windows movie maker to make a short video of my ideas for my newspaper, the layout for my website, front, second page and posters. I then uploaded the video on YouTube to get feedback from people and use the feedback in improving and developing my ideas. I also used YouTube to watch tutorials on how to use various software that are essential for the construction of my product. Some of these software’s are Dreamweaver, In Design, and Photoshop and so on. The fact that I had access to YouTube and was able to distribute my product supports the theory of Media 2.0.  Media 2.0 is a concept that argues that there is a growing movement from the celebration of certain ‘classic’ conventional and ‘avant garde’ text and focus on traditional media in general towards the massive ‘long tail’ of independent media projects such as those found on YouTube. Media 2.0 also claims that the outmoded notions of ‘receiver’ audiences and Elite ‘producers’ has been brushed aside.

I also used the internet site www.slideshare.net to upload a PowerPoint presentation that briefly summarises the planning, research and construction of my newspaper production. I got comments from people telling me how realistic my newspaper front page looks and what I needed to do to improve it. I also shared my presentation on a blogging site called ‘Blogger’. Blogger is a blog-publishing service that allows private or multi-user blogs with time-stamped entries. I used this site to keep a record of all my planning, research and construction process. Blogger helped me  to organise my work and stick to a strict time-scale. For example, I had to make a post on what I was doing every now and then. It was also useful in posting the videos that I watched on YouTube, sharing my newspaper adverts and so on. I was also able to get audience feedback from people as they could follow my blog and comment.

Carrying out my audience research proved difficult because it was harder for me to identify my target audience due to the digital revolution, my assumed audience is everywhere and it is  harder for me to target them. Firstly, I had to carry out audience research to help in identifying my audience. I used Microsoft word to put a questionnaire together and gave the questionnaires out. I then translated the result of the questionnaire into a pie chart using Microsoft Excel. I also posted my questionnaire on the group I made for my newspaper on the social networking site ‘www.facebook.com’. Facebook is a sociall networking service and website. It allows users to create a personal profile, add other users as friends, and exchange messages, including automatic notifications when they update their profile. Additionally, users may join common interest user groups, organized by workplace, school or college, or other characteristics. The questionnaire I posted on the groups website had questions like ‘What age range are you?’ ‘Do you read your local newspaper?’ It helped me to identify who my audience was.

I used the Google search engine to visit various local newspaper websites and found that they did not have a lot of information on their target audience. I then researched the 2001 national census for Southwark Council to know what age and what ethnicity has the highest population in Southwark. The national census is a count of all people and households in the country. It provides population statistics from a national to neighborhood level for government, local authorities, business and communities. This will help me to roughly develop an idea of who my target audience will be. I found out that White is the largest ethnic group taking around 63.01% and that the median age for the population of Southwark is 32. This is because the age range 30-44 has the highest population. With all the statistics, I came to the conclusion that the target audience for my newspaper is very wide; it includes all ethnicity and people from the age of 20-45.

For the construction of my newspaper, I used various software’s like Photoshop, In Design and  Dreamweaver for the production of all my products. I used Photoshop to manipulate the picture I took with a digital camera. I used Sony Cyber shot 7.2 mega pixels to take the pictures and these pictures were used to create my adverts on Photoshop. I also used the shape tool and some other tools to create the adverts. When constructing my newspaper website, I used Photoshop to create the website template and then exported it into dreamweaver for Web  purposes. I used dreamweaver to create hyperlinked texts and images. i also used Indesign to create my newspaper, both the front page and the second page.

In what ways will your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of a real media products.

I carried out a detailed textual analysis of various forms and conventions they have in common. Some of the conventions were masthead, headline, dateline and so on. After all this research, I decided to use some of the conventions that I found.

Layout:

The layout of my newspaper is set out similar to what a real newspaper looks like. I used the usual conventions like the masthead which is very bold, stands out to the reader and helps in drawing the reader’s attention. It consists of publication date, price, logo and website of the newspaper. The headline is in full caps and black font on white background which is a common convention in newspapers like South London Press. My main story is about a tube strike and I included a picture of people queuing to enter an underground station. This provides a link to the story and this gives the audience both a mental and visual image which keeps the readers attention. The image I used provides the reader with more information. For my website, I decided to use a grid based design because it is a common feature in almost all this newspaper websites that I researched. The grid based design enables the designers to manage and organise the information in the most effective manner to ensure easy readability for the viewers. The grid based design also gives the web pages a sharp look. The nameplate of my newspaper is placed at the top right hand corner of the website which makes it the main focus of the website without drawing too much attention from the news and other aspects of the website. I noticed that most newspaper front pages and their websites have the same nameplate and the same colour and font. I used this convention because it helps the audience to immediately see the similarities between the newspaper front page and website.

Colour:

 When creating a product, it is important to think about appearance. You need the product to look presentable so that people will recognize your brand but most importantly that it stands out from the rest. I had to carefully think about colour usage and not to add to many colours otherwise it would make the appearance look unprofessional and cluttered. I chose to use 3 colours of red, blue and white because during my research looking at different newspaper posters, I found out that most newspapers use three colours which are mostly primary colours.

I used the red colours for backgrounds and stokes for the boxes, I also used blue colour for some of the backgrounds and adverts. I used black for the font because during my research, my audience said that the body of a text should be in black font as it is more readable. The background of my newspaper is white because it makes the paper look less cluttered. During my research, I learnt that some newspapers  and the mass media in general tend to be politically bias. The aspect of the mass media and newspapers that tend to support  the Marxist argument of false consciousness is the ownership of the mass media. If a newspaper is indeed owned and controlled by either large companies or very rich capitalists then this suggests that the newspaper is indeed controlled by the capitalist class so they will have contents that instills false consciousness. An example of the political bias in newspapers is, Lord Beaverbrook owned the Daily Express while Lord Rothermere owned the Daily Mail. The political views of such owners were evident from the content of their newspapers which ran headlines such as: "Give The Blackshirts (British equivalent of the Nazis) A Helping Hand. Their political bias is also reflected in the colours of their front pages. For example, Daily Mirror uses colour red to show their support for Labour, The Daily telegraph sways towards the conservative party so they use blue. However, I did not notice any of this political bias in Local newspapers. This could be because they represent a small geographical area. Due to this research, I decided to use colour red but the use of my colour does not reflect any political bias. I decided not to support any political party because I do not want anyone leaving in Southwark to feel left out or stigmatized because they do not support the political part that the paper supports, and if they feel stigmatized or left out, it might make my target audience narrow.

Adverts:

 All local newspapers have a feast of adverts. Like the papers, mine will be greatly supported by advertisements. During my research, I found out that advertisements in newspapers are used to draw attention to a particular thing (for example, the issue of the swine flu or to promote an official issue or statement made by the government). They can also be used as a means to generate revenue for the newspaper. The adverts in my newspaper and website reflect the needs of the people in my local area. For example, the Fly low adverts are helpful to any one of my audience who wants to travel.

I also found out that all adverts including my own must follow the ASA code. The ASA is a very important body that must always be involved with the products of this kind. The ASA (Advertising Standard Authority) is a body which regulates marketing and advertising in non-broadcast media; to make sure that it is ‘legal, decent, honest and truthful’. There are guidelines which all adverts must follow. My adverts follow the same instructions from the Advertising Standard Authority code.

The ASA clearly says that it “ensure that advertising does not mislead, harm or offend”. It continues to state that “Ads must also be socially responsible and prepared in line with the principles of fair competition. These broad principles apply regardless of the product being advertised”.

The readers may have certain needs; the paper can help address this. So it is important for my local newspaper to have local adverts.  Readers may need or want a local business around in their area and may look up the local newspapers for information. This adheres to the uses and gratifications theory. The theory places more focus on the consumer, or audience, instead of the actual message itself by asking “what people do with media” rather than “what media does to people” (Katz, 1959). It assumes that members of the audience are not passive but take an active role in interpreting and integrating media into their own lives. The theory also holds that audiences are responsible for choosing media to meet their needs. The approach suggests that people use the media to fulfil specific gratifications. Just like my audience do, they use the adverts in my newspaper to meet their specific needs like travel, shopping and so on.

Taking time to research I found that many of the adverts for local businesses were of low quality, this was due to the companies’ very small budget compared to national advertising campaigns. I have tried to keep up to this expectation however I have also tried to create more professional looking/quality ones.

Typography:

I researched newspaper typography and I have learnt that the typeface of a newspaper can make a big difference to the image that is being conveyed and the audience that is being targeted. Typeface fall into three main categories; serif, sans serif and decorative. Serifs are known to be the most popular and ‘traditional type face used by mostly broadsheet newspapers while sans serif is known to have a modern or technological feel.  This is a convention that I have noticed in a lot of broadsheet and tabloid newspaper and for my own newspaper; I will be using the sans serif typeface to give my newspaper a modern feel. Below are some examples of the fonts that newspapers in the UK use. During my research I found out that most newspapers actually create the fonts specifically for their own use so gaining access to these fonts are difficult and maybe impossible.

Expanded media platform:

 My newspaper also follows the 21^st century requirement of an accompanying website. It was obvious when researching that my audience didn’t want to be limited to news they get just from a printed paper, they wanted to be multimedia and have the ability to access the newspaper wherever they are. The website is suitable for people who do not want to clutter their house with hundreds of papers. All they have to do to get all the newspaper stories is to go on the website and view the archive. Also, due to the digital revolution, phones have access to the internet therefore it allows readers to gain access to news in a few minutes. As well as having a newspaper website, I have also created and Ipad and Iphone application that my audience can download and read the newspaper for free. This is a growing trend within the newspaper and media industry in general. Some newspapers that have phone applications are The Sun, Daily Mail and so on. This shows that I am trying to reach my target audience by using technology and this helps in increasing my newspaper readership.

For my website, I followed some conventions. Some of them are the addition of a search box. This search box allows the reader to navigate with ease on my website as they can search what they specifically want to read instead of scanning through loads of information and stories. I also have a job search area on my website because I am aware of the current employment crises and also because a lot of newspapers have it on their website which helps in meeting the readers needs.

Also I found out that there is a lot of competition and distraction online for today’s audience so for my newspaper to have a high readability online, I needed to make my website fun, eye-catching and the stories needed to be short with catchy headlines. According to Jakob Nielsen, Web readability expert “We can’t stress this enough: Long, rambling text frustrates audiences. The word count for Web content should be about half of that used in conventional writing.”

Research repeatedly shows that Web users are far more likely to scan stories than read them line by line. In a recent Eyetrack study, stories with short paragraphs received twice as much attention as those with longer paragraphs. So therefore I decided to make the stories on my website short and simple to keep the readers attention.

Challenging conventions:

As well as using and developing conventions, my newspaper also challenges conventions. This makes it recognisable and stands out from the other newspapers.

Newspaper poster:

During the research for newspaper posters , I noticed that most British newspaper posters are plain and simple without any pictures in contrast to the American newspaper poster that are more colorful with pictures. The British newspaper posters mainly have white background with the name of the newspaper and the headline in either black or blue font. I think the effectiveness of posters like these is not as much as those of the American newspapers which have pictures that create a better understanding of the story. This is the feedback I got from my potential audience, I showed them the two posters and asked them to choose the one that they see as effective and are most likely to buy the newspaper and read. I found out that 60% of them chose the American newspaper poster and 40% chose the British ones.

However, I decided that instead of just following the British or American conventions, ill use aspects of both by having a bold headline, using pictures but also using a symbol that would help my audience immediately understand what my story is about.

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

After every week of my newspaper production, I presented a PowerPoint in front of my classmates, showing them my progress and they gave me feedback. The audience feedback has allowed me to develop throughout the production of my work.

Colour and Typography: I have learnt that the colour and typography of a newspaper can make or break the newspaper in the sense that if the colour is too bright, it might steer the reader away and if the fonts are not readable, the reader will not be encouraged to read the paper. My audience found the colour scheme interesting as they thought the combination of the red and blue was very eye-catching and attention grabbing. They thought the font I used for the stories was very readable.

Adverts: I have learnt that people want less adverts as it can sometimes distract them from reading the newspaper and obtaining the information’s they really need. I learnt to make adverts less obtrusive and placed them where they do not get in the way both in the newspaper and website. I also made sure that the colours used for the adverts complimented the colour scheme of my newspaper and website..

Layout: from my audience feedback, I learnt that the layout of a newspaper is very important and a bad layout with stories scattered all around the page looks unprofessional compared to a newspaper with a grid based design and stories set out in a tidy way. I also learnt the importance of breaking the stories into sections to keep the readers attention as most of my audience said they would prefer to read a news story in shorter paragraphs rather than long paragraphs. My audience also said that the side bar on my website allowed easy navigation through the pages.

Also my audience found the addition of the Search bar very useful because it meant that they can specifically search what they want to read rather than scanning through pages of stories.

From all this audience feedback, I have learnt the importance of easy navigation and readability.

Audience feedback for Newspaper poster:

They found the use of the underground logo very interesting and said it gives them an insight into what the story is about which encourages them to read my newspaper.

My found my use of picture very unusual and different but concluded that because its different from other newspaper posters as they do not use pictures, it makes my newspaper more noticeable. This immediately makes my newspaper stand out.

From this audience feedback, I learnt the importance of Identity. Because my newspaper poster is different from the other newspaper posters, it makes the audience more interested in reading the paper.

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

The use of similar colours in all of the products I created helps the audience to identify each product and link them together.

The use of similar layouts on the newspaper and website: I used the grid based design through out the newspaper front cover, inside page and the two hyperlinked pages of my website.

The fact that some of the stories reported in the newspaper are the same as the ones reported in the website.

Website is highlighted in the main product: The website was displayed clearly to the readers on the second page of the newspaper. Every paper has a website and people achieve more information when they logged onto my website.