Poster Ideas

Poster Ideas

Till Receipt/Value for money - Similar to the idea that The Sun used, showing the value for money with an interesting aesthetic quality.

World magnified on Harrogate - A map of the world, showing a magnifying glass over Harrogate/magnifying glass showing the map of Harrogate in the middle. Accentuates the fact that the newspaper is ultra local but also that Harrogate is the 'center of the world', connoting the importance of the newspaper and community.

Community based - Images of people of all ages each reading the newspaper. This would show that the newspaper is for all ages.

Tag Lines -

The Harrogate Times. Your ultra local newspaper.

The Harrogate Times. Not just your local newspaper.

The Harrogate Times. Take a closer look.

The Harrogate Times. Our World. Our Community.

Poster Draft

I created a draft image of my poster to give an idea of what the final production will look like. I used the conventions from the national newspapers posters and applied them to my own production. For example, this draft is simple, has a tagline (take a closer look), colour (image) and the title and website of the newspaper. I used the image from 'clip art' on Microsoft Word, which I will replace with my own image that is similar to the draft.

Newspaper Poster Conventions

To create an advertisement poster for the newspaper, I have researched the generic conventions of national newspapers advertising posters. These are images from two different newspapers, The Guardian and The Sun, and their conventions.
The Guardian

- Quotes/Persuasive language/sentences
- Colour
- Title/Website of newspaper
- Image (Using relevant associated words)
- Not a lot of text
- (Newspaper) Associated words e.g "fact" and "opinion"
- None gender/age specific

- Title/Website of newspaper
- Image
- Colour
- Persuasive language/sentences
- Simple
- None gender/age specific

These two posters present a very simple approach to advertising. Using eye-catching colours and unusual designs attracts attention easily. The language used within each poster is specific to newspapers and the media, suggesting that the audience can have their own opinion and the newspaper will allow them to do this.

The Sun

- Title of newspaper
- Image of receipt
- Subjects within the newspaper shown on receipt, "TOTAL 30P" connoting it is worth the money.
- Simple
- None gender/age specific

- Tite of newspaper
- Simple
- Quotation
- Possibly for generation that understands the recession
- Bold statements e.g "BIG OPINIONS. EVERY DAY."

Both of these advertisement posters for The Sun, similarly to The Guardian, present also a simple scheme. The receipt poster is imaginative and simple with a good concept to persuade the audience to buy the newspaper.

Through looking at these posters, although national, I have gained knowledge for the production of my own poster.

I will make it simple yet appealing so my audience finds it eye-catching and interesting.

Newspaper Language (etc.)

Newspapers use specific language and grammar, this establishes it as the text of a newspaper.

9 GOLDEN RULES

KISS – Keep It Short and Simple. In any newspaper, whether it be national or local, keeping sentences short and simple make for better news and it is easier to read.
Reading For Speed – Everything on a newspaper should be created for speed reading, enabling the audience to read through articles fast
Never Use 3 Words When One Will Do.
Don’t Repeat Yourself
Use Active Verbs – e.g “Youth strikes woman”
Use Puns In Headlines
Personalise The Story – make it relevant to people and places.
Categorise People – e.g Ex lover
Avoid – Overuse of clichés, euphemisms, being too chatty, foreign phrases.


GRAMMAR AND QUOTE USE
When using quotes in articles, I need to be sure to check if the quote is direct or indirect. The use of grammar in articles changes compared with usual written text. A direct quote is something somebody has actually said. These need speech marks.
Indirect quotes usually come after “ X was said to be..”. This quote may have been taken from an outside/close source.
Standard English grammar is often dropped when writing articles. This is because it makes the article easier to read and depending on the article can give a certain ‘feel’ to it.

TEXT LAYOUT
Newspaper text is always written in columns that are aligned to reach both sides of the margins, so giving an efficient look. Usually it ranges between one to three sentences per paragraph, and font size is usually around a size 8 or 10, so that it’s small enough to fit all information in.
The paragraphs are always indented to establish a different point, per paragraph. The establishing paragraph always includes “WHO, WHERE, WHEN and WHY”, this is written in short and ages are always shown after names. (Only in the first paragraph, unless introducing a new subject later on in the bulk of the information)
Text is mostly placed below or to the side of the photograph, if the article has one. It is rarely placed on top, as the headline is placed there.

TECHNICAL TERMS AND NEWSPAPER FEATURES

Box-out – A small part of the page, shaded in a different colour.

By-line – the name of the reporter.

Caption – text under the photographs explaining the image.

Crosshead – a subheading within the body of the text of an article.

Feature – not necessarily a ‘news’ item, but usually with a human-interest angle.

Headline – this is the main title of the article, usually in the largest and boldest font, describing the main story. A banner headline spans the full width of the page.

Kicker – this is a story designed to stand out from the rest of the page by the use of a different font and layout.

Lead Story – the main story on the front page.

Lure – a word or phrase directing the reader to look inside the paper at a particular story or feature.

Masthead – the masthead is the title block or logo identifying the 'brand identity' of the newspaper at the top of the front-page. Sometimes a motto is also placed within the masthead.The masthead is often set into a block of coloured print or boxed with a border; the ‘Red-tops’ (The Sun, The Mirror, The News of the World) are categorised by style and the use of a red background in the masthead. Local newspapers generally use 'calmer' colours such as blue or green.

Pugs – these are at the top left and right-hand corners of the paper and are known as the ‘ears’ of the page. The prices of the paper or the brand identity are positioned there. They are well placed to catch the reader’s eye.

Secondary Lead – this is usually only a picture and headline, it gives a sneak preview of a story that you might find inside the paper.

Sidebar – when a main feature has an additional box or boxed panel along side of it.

Spread – a story that covers more than one page.

Standfirst – this is an introductory paragraph,letter or sentence before the start of the feature.Sometimes it may be in bold.

Strapline – this is an introductory headline below the headline.

APPLICATION TO PRODUCT

Applying these concepts to my product was relatively easy, for example I used the 9 Golden Rules; "KISS" was used in each headline as it is unusual for a newspaper to use standard grammar and English.

For example: "Woman's handbag stolen in ASDA"

Generically newspapers use this ellipsis to create the concept of KISS.

Other Image Choices

These are the contact sheets of images that I have either discarded or used in advertisements or smaller articles in the newspaper. The highlighted yellow images are the ones that I have used and have been edited in Photoshop (brightness and contrast) to give better aesthetic quality.

1. I chose only one image out of this set of photos, due to it being a much straighter angle and appropriately corresponding to the article I have written in the newspaper.

2. I have chosen 3 images here. Firstly, I chose the first 'present' photo due to it being a clearer and brighter image. The second chandelier image was chosen because it was at a better angle compared to the others and was focused more clearly on one small part of the object. I only had one of the final image of the vase, which I felt was enough as the image is in focus and can be resized accordingly to the advert.

3. After thoroughly looking at each photo here I found that in most the inconsistency was that the angle was slightly slanted, or the shoulders were uneven. I chose this photo in particular to include the lips and the 'straighter' shoulders in order for the pearl necklace to be in main focus.

Final Newspaper Pages Production

Using all the research I conducted, I put together a final newspaper. This is my first original copy that I was initially not happy with, as some conventions did not fit my research. For example, there are gaps and the columns for each article are not aligned. This is a difficulty I came across whilst using Microsoft Publisher to create the product. In my final product, I managed to overcome this problem by adding more images, specifically with a member of the public in.

This is my final front cover. I have included all generic conventions of a newspaper on to it; such as articles, images, advertisements, masthead, barcode, date and time, price, motto and weather. In comparison to my first original copy, this front page has a much better layout and a more realistic aspect to it.

This is my final second page. Using all the research I conducted, I applied it to my final product. For example, in comparison to the front cover this page has a larger article ratio, including articles of lots of importance. The articles are also varied in terms of news values making the page interesting to read for the audience. All articles on both front cover and second page fall in line with the uses and gratifications theory.

Lizi Riley - Both pages look really realistic, I especially like the advert on the second page. There are no visible gaps which also helps the newspaper look really professional.

Image Editing Process

I edited the images that went into the newspaper only slightly, for example increasing brightness and contrast to show colour and make the image clearer. I also 'cut out' images from their backgrounds.
I used Photoshop for this process.

Hyperlinked Webpage Generic Conventions

These are the conventions I have found that apply to the hyperlinked webpages of each different Newspaper. E.g The Hereford Times (See Webpage Conventions.)

- Homepage Masthead/Title : Same as the Homepage, keeping the house style and brand identity
- Pictures : Several pictures for the articles and advertisements, main picture for the article
- Main Linked Article - This takes up most of the hyperlinked page as it is the purpose
- Advertisements : The same as the Homepage
- Links to other stories : To give the audience other story options
- Comment Option : To give the reader the option to comment on the article
- House Style : The same as the Homepage, keeping all colours and fonts

APPLICATION TO PRODUCT

Similarly to the home page of my website, I applied each of these conventions successfully in order to create a recognisable product.

Cohesive Devices in Newspapers and Webpages

To create the hyperlinked web pages, I will also research into the differences and similarities between the web pages and the front cover of the actual newspapers.

I will look at the Harrogate Advertiser in order to understand this. These conventions will help me to create the web pages.

SIMILARITIES
- Brand Identity and House Style
- Date and Time
- Articles
- Article Images
- Advertisements


DIFFERENCES

- Linked pages (Other sites/articles)
- Small proportion of articles, with links to the full article
- Comment Options
- Register/Sign in Options
- Scrolling Text
- Instant news updates
- Moving Images



These similarities and differences highlight the divergence between the hard print copy of the newspaper and the interactive, modern and 'instantaneous' version of the newspaper in web pages.
New media (i.e Internet) has been involved in the decline in profits of print media.

APPLICATION TO PRODUCT

Taking this into account, I aimed to create the products with exact cohesion to create a non-divergence between the products.

Due to my research in detail of the cohesive devices, it was an easy task to apply these to each of my products in order to create a precise and recognisable cohesion.

Newspaper Articles

These are the MAIN articles that I have written for the newspaper front cover and second page. Not all of my articles are included here, due to them being 'filler' articles and not main ones.

Main Article -

JAKE'S RESTAURANT RENOVATION SUCCESSTHE RESTAURANT scene in Harrogate has recently had a boom, leaving the recession a distant memory. In particular, one business, Jake’s, has caught the eye of many tourists and residents. It has also been nominated for the Plush awards. David Knowles, 45, and his wife Suzanne, 44, recently took over and renovated the stylish new restaurant. The couple bought the establishment when it was named Milan's, and have transformed it from a functional café into a sumptuous, Italian experience. The restaurant was named "Jake's" in memory of their late son, who unfortunately passed away aged 21. David said that the choice of name was not intended to be morbid, but in celebration of their son’s life. Dr. Susanne Knowles said, "The new menu is heavily influenced by our love of Italy and Italian cuisine, before we renovated Jake's the whole family would be experimenting with all sorts of different Italian recipes and foods at home." Critics have high hopes for the restaurant; some suggesting it's set to be a strong rival for Starbucks with its fresh coffee, cakes and pastries all produced on the premises by their award winning London head chef, Wendy O’Brien. The family recently held a private party for the official opening and renovation of the restaurant, also commemorating their sons birthday. The restaurant is yet to be fully refurbished but is currently open for business 7 days a week.

Article 2 - Front Cover

HARROGATE WOMAN'S HANDBAG STOLEN IN ASDAA HARROGATE woman's handbag was stolen in ASDA on Saturday afternoon. Mrs. Bellerby was doing her shopping when the incident happened around 12:15pm in the store. She was approached several times by a woman asking questions about different products of food. After the second time, Mrs Bellerby was distracted and later noticed her handbag was missing. The bag contained car keys, a mobile phone and a purse with credit cards and ten pounds cash. Sergeant Jones has said that this is not the first time the woman has stolen.“This is becoming a regular occurrence in the Harrogate area.The woman is not dangerous but may have an accomplice, so we are warning women to be vigilant and keep their handbags close.” She is described as being about 5ft2, black hair in a ponytail, of eastern European origin and with a very little knowledge of English. The police are urging anyone who may have seen the woman around Harrogate to come forward as they believe she may steal again. Alternatively, call crime stoppers on 0800 1234567.

COUNCIL INVEST IN SCHOOL CANTEEN EXTENSIONNORTH Yorkshire County Council have invested over £240,000 in constructing an extension to Harrogate Grammar School’s canteen. The extension was finished this month and is currently in use. The extension, which began at the start of June, will seat an extra 300 students (on top of the current 240) and will host another 3 serving stands for extra canteen staff. Head teacher Mr. R. Sheriff agrees that the school is in desperate need of extra space to accommodate their 1800+ students. Mr .J. Mungovin, the head of the site staff at the school, revealed his thoughts on the new construction; “We are hoping that more students will be encouraged to stay on site for their school dinners, and make good use of the new facilities.” The school recently received the Healthy Schools Award, allowing the extension of the canteen, and is already one of the most desirable schools in the country.

Main Article - 2nd page

BAH HUMBUG!CHRISTMAS IN Harrogate has always started early. Advertisements are in windows usually by early November. There have been several complaints to Harrogate Borough Council this year as to why there are shop windows with Christmas decorations already on display. Anne Woodland is one person on the Christmas Lights committee who agrees that the decorations are a little too early. “I love Christmas in Harrogate, our tree in the town centre always looks magnificent. The main shops have definitely bought Christmas forward at least a month too soon.” With Halloween and Bonfire night still to come, Christmas is definitely not ‘just around the corner.’ The run up to the holiday is always a rush, but have Harrogate made the rush come far sooner than is needed? In the economic crisis that Britain and the rest of the world is in at present, is it necessary for shops to be encouraging early Christmas present spending? Matthew Riley, 32, has recently lost his job as manager of the Printing Company that went out of business last month. “Having no job in this economic climate is definitely not where anybody wants to be. Retailers that are encouraging shoppers to start on Christmas shopping is absurd. Who can really afford to start now, we certainly can’t.” Shop managers however, such as Susan Taylor who manages Woods interiors in Harrogate, has a very different idea. “Yes we are going through an economic downturn at the moment, but what people don’t realise is retailers have to have an ongoing income also.” If you have any thoughts on early Christmas, please contact us.

106 RE-ROUTETHE 106 bus route is under debate. The public are furious with the changes to the bus route, which is supposed to improve the ‘reliability’ of the service. The route will lose many valued customers, says Dr. Ray Clare, 68. “I am outraged at the changes. I don’t have any means of transport to get in to town, the 106 bus is a vital connection for many people, especially those near Green Lane.”Dr. Clare has set up a petition which has to date over 500 names. He is hoping to gain at least another two hundred more signatures before presenting it to Harrogate Borough Council. Transdev introduced the route cuts in August, which cut out 3 major parts of the route including Green Lane, Yew Tree Lane and Rossett Green.

CAT HITCHES 30 MILE RIDE IN BACK OF VANA CAT from Harrogate was found in the back of a Toyota Maintenance van last week. Craig Ross, 50, the owner of the van, was shocked to see his elderly neighbours‘cat asleep in the back. The cat, after jumping into the back of Mr Ross’s open van, had fallen asleep and then taken over a 30 mile ride to Barnsley until Mr Ross had noticed. “I hadn’t realised until I had to stop at a service station near Barnsley, it’s a wonder nothing fell on top of her.” After discovering the cat, Mr Ross drove back to Harrogate and handed back the cat, named Bebe, to Mrs Ethel Godal, 78, of Arthurs Avenue. Mrs Godal said she ‘wasn’t surprised’ Bebe had gone missing again. “It’s a regular occurrence now, I’d seen her climb in strange places before but never thought she’d end up travelling all theway down Yorkshire.”Mrs Godal is widowed lives on her own, with 18 year old Bebe. “If I’d lost Bebe I wouldn’t know what to do. I wouldn’t be able to get another cat at all.” The adventurous cat is infamous in the neighbourhood for getting locked in garages and having several days away from home. Bebe is now safely back home with Mrs Godal.

Newspaper Webpage Conventions

Second Task - Hyperlinked Webpages - RESEARCH
In research to create two hyperlinked webpages I have researched the main webpages of local newspapers. This is in order to gain knowledge of how a newspaper website presents itself, so I can apply the generic conventions of the page to my own work. I used several different local newspaper websites from around the country, rather than the all Ackrill Media Group sites, as they all have the same layouts.

• Hereford Times
• Newcastle Journal
• North Wales Weekly News
• Harrogate Advertiser
  
  
  

Generic Conventions

- Masthead/Title of newspaper : to demonstrate the newspapers trade name

- Brand Identity : the font type used for the title, giving it it's personal identity

- Articles : only small snippets of the articles.

- Links to articles : for the audience to read the full article.

- Links to other pages e.g adverts : these fill up a lot of the page and are either local adverts or other websites.

- Scrolling text e.g Current daily news : changes daily and is 'instant'. (e.g has the exact time posted)

- Pictures included with articles : like the newspaper, to give better imagery of the story.

- Time and Date : standard convention

- "Register" and "Sign in" options : so regular readers can receive updates/other news/comment

- House style e.g colours, layout : to establish the link between newspaper and webpage

- Search engine boxes : to search the website or internet

- Contact options : in order to contact the editor. e.g to suggest articles

- Weather : updated weekly, possibly daily

- Links to specific article areas e.g Sport : to give choice to the audience who may only want to read certain sections of news

APPLICATION TO PRODUCT

Using this research of generic conventions, I found it easier to understand what a typical local newspaper website should look like. If I had used divergent thinking within my product it would not have been recognised by an audience as a newspaper webpage.

Each convention I applied to thoroughly create a genuine looking product.

Main Article Image Choices

Jake's Restaurant Renovation Success


I chose this image out of only the three I took of the restaurant, because I feel this long shot of the building, at a diagonal angle, captures the new and unusual ambience of the restaurant.
As the article was about the renovation, and the restaurant is suggested to be unique in the town, a slightly upward diagonal angle gives this impression.
I edited the brightness and contrast on Photoshop to help the image stand out and the colours to connote a 'bright and cheerful' family restaurant.

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"Bah Humbug!"

I chose this image to portray the early Christmas scene in the window, in late September time. This image I chose out of three because it captures and focuses on the shop alone, with nothing else in the image to distract the eye. I cropped the image and edited the brightness and contrast to achieve the window scene as the focal point.

Newspaper Production

To complete the newspaper front cover and second page, I used a program called Microsoft Publisher. This allowed me to create a genuine looking newspaper in a more professional way.

Firstly, I had written my articles and arranged them into columns in Publisher. This allowed me to set a layout for the images and articles, and to choose which articles would fit best on the page.

Here is a sample layout, where I was arranging the articles and advertisments to fit evenly.
I decided to use the banner at the top of the page as I found in my research that it is a generic convention for local newspapers. I also found that local newspapers usually use colour in them as they are not as formal as, for example, a business newspaper. I chose a neutral blue coloured theme, which connotes the formality of the newspaper, but also revealing that it is local.

I used the typeface "Georgia", which is a serif font and holds a sense of formality. I used a lighter blue for the word "Harrogate" so that it would contrast against the darker background and stand out to the audience showing that it is from their local town. Also, to help the word stand out more I used a neutral black and italic typeface for "The" and "Times". This has created my house style, which I felt was appropriate for a local Harrogate newspaper.
In and below the banner I included the website, a motto, the date and the price of the newspaper which are all typical conventions of a local newspaper.

The banner across the very top of the page is advertising inside articles and offers, also another convention. I created a side column also to advertise other inside articles and advertisements.

A generic convention of a local newspaper is that it has an advertisement. I discovered that this was usually placed towards the bottom of the front page, as a 'banner'. I decided to create a display advertisement as that was the type of advert that appeared most frequently.

This may be so as not to distract attention from the main articles.

I came across several difficulties whilst placing the article on the page. I overcame these by cropping, and adding pictures to the advertisment so the barcode and recycling symbol fit on to the page with out any gaps.

Here is an image of the final display advertisment :

I used a pale pastel colour that fades to the left of the article, to represent the simple designs of the 'homewears' that the article is advertising. I used an extravagant typeface for the title of the company to portray a luxurious feel as well, contrasting with the simple colour, images and smaller typeface.

The second page was also created on Publisher, to allow the pages to have a similar layout. Here is the process where I was setting out my articles to build the second page. I inserted the articles first before I inserted pictures in order to create the right layout.

In this image, (left), I realised that the advertising ratio was none existant, so I removed some articles to make room for the display advertisement.

This part of the production is where I added in some of the pictures that I have now rejected. I also started to produce my advertisement, which is for a jewellery shop called "Les Anges". I chose this name as it sounds quite 'upper class' and I used dark colours to connote luxury.


Here is my second page final advert :
For this display advert, I used dark colours such as deep red and black to connote wealth and luxury. This is also percieved through the image of a girl, with red lipstick and a pearl necklace. This close up image also holds connotations of wealth and upper class, I used this stereotype in order to gain the correct audience for that particular advert.