Evaluation: Question 1

Our media products follow typical conventions of existing newspapers and websites on the Internet.

To start we noticed that most logos have the title of the newspaper in bold large text with the smaller details above it or below it in either a sans-serif font or just a smaller block font. A lot of logos also have a block of colour behind them to make the title of the newspaper stand out more from the rest of the page.

Above are typical newspaper logos that we tried to follow as they have a recognised technique in drawing in the audience to buy the magazine. Below is ours which follows the conventions of existing newspapers.

Our final logo that will be used for the newspaper and the website looks very similar to the two above, The Sun and Wigan evening post, but with our own ideas added. We liked this layout and colour scheme the best as it relates to the town Wigan as red is associated with the place. It also exaggerates Wigan to make the newspaper and website stand out more to the public. Overall our logo uses typical conventions of a newspaper logo.

We modelled our website and newspaper of existing medias that are already popular to the public and attract their attention easily. We followed all of the conventions such as the logo in the top left corner, advertisement and stories strategically placed for the best view. For our website we based it off the Sun website as we thought it had the best layout (below)

Our adverts on the newspaper and the website also follow typical conventions. We researched thoroughly what makes a good advert and created a few of our own. We noticed that both in the newspaper and website in real medias that they where all colourful and attractive to draw the readers attention. However, not so big so that it doesn't take much of the readers attention from the stories. 

For example below the advert is uses a bight colour scheme but isn't to big that distracts the reader.

We took the ideas of the above advert and created out own that will also do the same job as other adverts.

The same goes for our website, we researched a lot about existing websites and their adverts since they play a major role for the website. This is because adverts are the way the generate money to fund the website and keep it running. Below is typical website advert that we found on the sun.

Products

Newspaper

Poster

Website

http://www.thewiganword.tk/

Evaluation: Question 4

How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

We used a wide range of new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages. This is because we aimed to create a professional set of new media texts and by using technologies that anybody can access we believe we achieved this.

When making our newspaper, newspaper adverts and poster we used Adobe Photoshop CS5. It was useful in editing images, and in constructing adverts, adjusting the layout through using the different layers. The effects offered in the software helped us created products with high standards that could be seen as professional and specialized.

One of the many effects used was a lens flare on the logo on the poster. This adds depth to the poster so it’s not just a flat picture.

When making the website and adverts for the website we used Adobe Fireworks and Dreamweaver. We used fireworks to get the layout of the website sorted and the position of all the photos and adverts within the document. We then used Dreamweaver to enter the main text from the article and by using a drop shadow, added depth and a different colour background.

Both of the above software had useful features that we used to optimize and enhance our product. A big feature was the ‘Preview in Browser’ option. Using this alongside trial and error enabled us to modify and adapt our website to become professional and have a high quality finish.

We also used very basic software such as publisher to draw designs for our newspaper and website. Publisher also allowed us to create brainstorms and graphs easily to display thoughts and results that were gathered during the research stage.

We also used an online website that you can generate surveys and ask tehe public for their opinion. We used survey money to ask the public what type of articles they would like to see in a local newspaper/website and what type of adverts attract their attention the most. This was very valuable as it gave us the public’s opinion and what they want out of a newspaper and a website.

After completing our products we uploaded pictures and a link to facebook and used it as an outlet to display our real media texts. From this we learned the opinions and thoughts about our products and how we could improve and modify them.

We used Microsoft PowerPoint to create an easy format to display data we had gathered. We then uploaded these slides to a site called slide share. The process is really simple and ages a different angle to the way we outputted the information on our blog.

Blogger has been a key part of our project as we used it to post about our progress and how events unfolded. It also helped us to explain how we did things and where our thoughts and ideas came from to develop our final products.

Finally, Google was a key tool to help us produce high quality products as we used it a lot during our researching stages. It enabled us to search and view different aspects of our project, such as existing newspapers, websites and posters.

Evaluation: Question 3

Overall, our media products seemed to be successful with our target audience. The screen shot above shows the reaction of a group of (16-24) year olds who live in the local area who may purchase and use our products if they were to be distributed.

Stephen Ann commented on the use of colour on the front page of the newspaper and described it as a “very attractive feature”. We intended to challenge the conventions of the typical local newspaper in that sense as most local newspapers we researched had very little colour. However, we believed that to appeal to our target audience we should attempt to liven up the newspaper by using more colour. Judging by our audience feedback, it worked.

Tommy Walsh added that the newspaper would appeal to him because there are “stories about people in [his] age group”. Again, this is a device purposely designed to draw our target audience in by making them feel included and giving them an opportunity to read about people their own age.

Evaluation: Question 2

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
When designing and creating our real media texts we tried to incorporate visual signature marks that would link all three products together, the newspaper, poster and website. We did this mainly by including the Wigan Word logo on all three where it could be seen straightaway.

We also kept the same colour scheme throughout our products, using mainly red that distinguishes our products from others and adding some blue in their too. We used red because Wigan is highly associated with red, and sometimes even blue. However, these colours are occasionally common in existing newspapers as we found out in our research. Using this theme throughout the products allows them to be identified as products all linked together.

We tried to include the same fonts and structure throughout the newspaper and the two ancillary texts so when you looked at all of them you could tell they were the same product but displayed as different media types.

Poster Research

Before we begin our Poster we researched a couple of posters created by popular newspapers so we can get a few ideas on how to do ours.

This poster was used as part of The guardians world cup campaign , the main picture that the text is around is the corner of a football picture so the poster directly links to the world cup. When you first look at it the poster uses a varied amount of colours on a white picture so it catches the viewers’ attention.

The main message behind the Guardian newspaper poster is that they will be reporting about the World cup from every angle, it also goes on to list all the features that they offer in the newspaper. ‘Obsessive detail’ goes on to persuade the viewer that they will be covering the World Cup with maximum detail.

This poster was created for the Shropshire Star : RAF Cosford Air show. The use of a paper plane shows that it was in relation to the upcoming air show. They include a picture of the newspaper on the bottom to help people realise what the poster is for.

The use of the words 'up there' relates with the aeroplane which also tells the audience that is in relation to the air show. It also shows that the newspaper is competing with the big real media texts such as the sun and daily mail, as it its ‘up there’ in quality and quantity with the rest.

The posters above are from the sun and the guardian newspapers. They helped us realise that to get the newspaper noticed it has to be noticed, different to the rest and not merge with all the other advertisement surrounding it. A common trend in the posters above is that they have 1 main image, a minimal amount of text, Eye catching, includes a slogan, pronouns to involve the newspaper and they aren’t gender specific. We will keep in mind these generic conventions when designing our own poster.

Website: Finishing touches

With the website nearly completed we kept on reviewing the pages by using a very useful function that Dreamweaver offered. We had the ability to preview our designed website in a browser so we can use trial and error to make it better.

We noticed that the Page looked flat and boring. We wanted it to be more like the sun where it had a different colored background and a shadowed border around the page to make it seem off the screen. So altering the properties in the code and the dialog boxes provided we set the background colour to #E7E7E7 whih is a grayish colour. We also centered aligned the page since 100% of the websites we researched where following that trend.

We also managed to create a shadowed border by creating a white square the same width of the page in fireworks with a shadowed border, 1 pixel high. We then saved it as a picture and imported it onto our Dreamweaver document and repeated the picture down the Y-axis in the center so it gave the desired effects.

Below is two screen shots of using the function 'Preview in Browser' of our finished website.

Website: Dreamweaver

To the right is a screen shot of the website page when we first imported it into Dreamweaver. You can select all the individual slices that we created and even change them.

The second screen shot shows the new text that we entered into the slices we created in Fireworks.

As you can see the new text is much finer and crisp.

If we had done it in Dreamweaver it would of come out blurry and pixelated.

Website: Slices

Slices are used to move a Dreamweaver document over to fireworks. They literally ‘Slice’ up the document to where key actions are going to happen.

Below I have ‘Sliced’ the document up to highlight where all the rollover effects are that link to state 2 in the page, which includes most of the text and pictures.

You also have to slice State 2 to match up with the original page so the roll over behaviours work correctly. This is displayed below.

Lastly, to enter the text in Dreamweaver you have to add slices to where the text will go which is indicated in the picture below in a brighter colour. The reason I didn’t do the headings and titles in Dreamweaver as well is because they are bigger. The text that goes with the individual articles is much smaller so needs to be more detailed and precise, and you can achieve that in Dreamweaver.

Website: State 2

The next thing to do was to add a new state. This means that by adding a simple roll over behaviour you can make the website come to life by simply rolling over an object with the mouse and it will change its properties or function.

For example with the slogan when you look at it, it says The Wigan Word, however in the second state it says The Wigan Word, More news you can use. I also spent time to add this effect to the navigation bar so the background colours on the objects and the text changes colour when the mouse hovers over it. Since it looked really good, I then added it to the extra articles on the far right hand side so when the mouse hovers over them the square changes colour.

Website: Layout

After researching and planning exactly what will be on the website we started to design the basic layout of the website.
We started by inputting the adverts that we designed onto the page along with the Logo and slogan.
Next we added the taskbars that separate the pages into the header, main story, centre and footer. These would be red to keep with the house style and colour scheme of the Wigan Word.

After that we created the navigation bar on the far left hand side.

We then added the main picture and photos for the articles in the centre and along the right hand side. Thus creating the two columns where the sub articles are displayed, showing without the text.

Our Website Adverts

After choosing a suitable layout for the website and completing research for appropriate adverts we started designing a few adverts in fireworks since we will be creating the layout of the website with this software. We used existing media texts to expand our ideas and designs for possible adverts.

Above is the banner advert that will be featured at the top of the website next to the logo. We decided the advert should promote a financial business so we took an existing advert that was similar to our idea and produced a professional advert. It is simple, straight to the point with the important details, “25% off” shown in a bigger font to highlight the deal, making it stand out. The colours chosen also reflect the house style colours of the newspaper and website so they link together.

The next advert, shown above, is marketing an Italian restaurant which uses earthy colours compared to the website so it stands out more to the reader. The green/brown colour scheme was also chosen since Italy is more countryside so they were ideal and suitable colours to go with. The Olives where drawn to likewise represent Italy and the name of the restaurant since there are plenty of olive gardens in Italy. The e-mail is placed on a black shape so it stands out from the advert itself so the viewers can easily see where to get more information from.

This advert is promoting a furniture clearance as viewers will be able to see easily as the title is the biggest thing in the advertisement. The colours here also contrast with the colour scheme for the newspaper and website to make it standout out from the articles. Furthermore, it is simple and direct so the observer doesn't have to puzzle out the message portrayed behind the advert which could lead to them skipping over it straight away.

The final advert displayed on the website is a local bingo club advertising you to join them playing bingo in Wigan. To keep with the set trend of unpretentious, simple and functional, adverts this was kept on a white background with colours to highlight the text. The word bingo was placed on to the balls to make the advert more interesting and to ensure it catches the reader’s attention.

Website: Choosing a layout (Option 3)

Option 3

Using our designs from option 1 and 2 we used our new found knowledge to come up with another layout without the influence of another website already on the internet. The design we came up with is a very graphical based layout with more pictures then the previous two and more main headlines for each category provided (News, sport news and Celebrity news).

We really like this design as it featured a simple layout at the top for the Header mast and a clever way of displaying the articles in the centre using 3 columns for each section, to separate each section from each over so all the articles aren’t simply placed randomly together. The advertisement displayed in the layout is along the bottom, 3 to follow the pattern of the above columns and one on the top of the page next to the logo.

However, we decided against this layout for a few key points that option 2 included that weren’t designed in this layout because there wasn’t enough space or because we thought it wasn’t required in the layout.

Firstly, this layout has no navigation bar. When we designed it we thought that the categorizes that the website offered where shown with a simple layout and where to clear to the user. However, a website still needs a simple and easy way of navigating the site. Secondly, it was missing a place for the slogan. Slogans are key to a website as they are one of the first things the viewer sees, which sticks in their memory so they turn to that particular website next time they go online to look for news. Since the design was missing these two basic factors we opted for option 2.

Maybe next time or when updating and improving the future website we will modify it to option 3 and keep in mind the important features that weren’t included.

Website: Choosing a layout (Option 2)

Option 2

This design was also influenced from an existing website and became our selected layout. It allows for a lot of articles to be displayed in the centre of the page with an ordered pattern and the main article bigger than the rest just above, below the title and logo.

Advertisements are kept separate from the main section of articles so it doesn’t disrupt the flow and distract the viewer from the stories. They are placed on the far right with one main one alongside the logo and title of the website, which was a popular layout we found during research.

The layout of the title and slogan are also kept simple and straightforward so they stand out clearly for the viewer to identify what the page and website is about.

Down the left hand side of the layout is where the navigation bar will be situated displaying the different categorizes of articles so the viewer can easily select which type of articles they won’t to filter. On the right hand side are links to other articles, which are separated by the advertisements so they don’t merge and follow the same pattern as the main articles in the centre.

This layout optimized the amount of articles could be displayed without them being cluttered and overflowing onto a single page. It provides a simple and trouble-free arrangement so the viewer can navigate and find the way through the website without trouble and effort.

Website: Choosing a layout (Option 1)

In the following posts we have designed 3 possible layouts for our website. There are many pros and cons between them all so it was a hard decision to choose a professional layout that is also simple and easy to follow

Option 1

The first layout was the original design which was influenced of an existing website. It allows a lot of articles to be displayed on a set size compared to the other layouts, and still show advertisement at the top and middle of the page.

However, if you imagine the design with all the photos and text entered website layout is cramming all the articles around the advertisement and it becomes a bit cluttered, coming off to the viewer as unprofessional.
On the other hand, this is compensated by the easy and clean layout of the title and logo alongside the main article photo at the top of the page that brings some sort of control to the page.

It also has an easy navigation bar down the right hand side of the design which would link to the different articles or categories of stories. It also features the site map down at the footer of the design with extra links, but this could collide with the navigation bar and the viewer will have too many links to choose from.

Advertisment Research for the Webiste

To get influence when designing our adverts for the website we researched existing internet adverts to get an idea of how colour, font, images and layout is used to attract the readers attention.

After analysing the advertisements above, we noticed that a large amount of the adverts on the internet are animations as well as images. This makes them more interesting and grabs the viewers’ interest. In college we have the software to make an advert similar to these types but with the limited time allowed it would not have been up to standard with the website and not of good quality.

So after reviewing adverts that just contain images we came to the conclusion that many are really simple but effective by using colours to make it stand out. They use large fonts to make the purpose or title of the company obvious.

From this research we will make sure that our adverts meet the conventions and patterns of existing website adverts by ensuring we use bold colourful text but ensure that we keep them simple and easy to look at.

Website: Content research

Content Research

View more presentations from s0643.

Research conclusion from looking at other websites

All the websites that we looked at have set up the pages in the centre using blank spaces on either side. The echo and the daily mail left this space white which makes the articles and borders seem to just stop in the middle of the page.

However, the Wigantoday used a gradient tool to make the background and the articles separate from each over. Furthermore, the sun uses a block colour and a shadow around the articles to make it seem off the page and not just a flat screen. We think this looks better and makes the website more professional then the others.

The Sun also uses adverts to the minimalist so it doesn’t distract the reader from the articles, making the website easy to read. When designing the website for the newspaper we will use The Sun as a guide to make ours look like an expert page and specialized.

Website Research: The Sun

Overall this website looks more professional with a clean layout compared to the others, it also uses colours associated with the town it is based in. It displays the main stories well and uses adverts in a way that doesn’t distract you from the articles. We really liked the use of a shadow and a different colour background The Sun uses. It separates the main page from the background really well making it stand out. Also it makes the website seem more in depth and not just flat and boring.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/

Website Research: The Echo

The layout of the echo website looks very similar to the website of Wigan to today. Adverts on the right and above the articles. However the echo has a main story thats shows a bigger picture with a bit of text to the left, whereas Wigan today didn’t have an obvious one. The Echo looks very basic and it is the simplest out of the four other websites. Its background colour is the same throughout the page making it look flat and boring. Furthermore, it looks unorganized and clustered, as if not much thought went into designing it.

http://www.echo-news.co.uk/