Stage One

I have used conventional measurement for the advert which is 26cm wide and 6.9cm high. Using conventional measurements allows my paper too look right with everything in proportion. It allows my advert to be seen but not take up to much room at the bottom of the page.

This is the first stage of the development of my newspaper. I have started off by using a four column layout which is un-conventional for a newspaper. I have then started to draw out boxes using the measurements that I gathered from other papers to get the basic layout of my newspaper. I have included a news and brief down one side of my front cover. I then gathered conventional newspaper measurement of the metro and Bromley times which would be the basis of my paper.

The first stage of my development is to layout the design of my front page. I have started by drawing out boxes where everything will go and have followed the conventional measurements for each box. I have designed the masthead so that it follows conventional measurements. It has a height of 9cm and a width of 26.5cm. Either side of the page I have left a conventional print margin of 1.2cm on each side and 1 cm on the bottom and top just in case of any printing errors.

I have decided to have two stories on my front page which is also a convention. The picture in the middle has a width of 14cm and a height of 12cm. This allows the picture to stand out and to seen by the reader. The second story title has a width of 20cm and a height of 4cm giving it enough room to be seen as well. I have included a section under the main image explaining to the audience who is in the picture and where it was taken.

I have decided to include a news and brief within my front page. It follows the conventions of free local papers. The news and brief is 16.6cm high with a width of 5 cm. I have followed the conventions on the sizes for the news and brief so that it fits in with the other features on the page.

Stage Two

I have started of the second page as I did the first by laying out the page. I started off by having a blank canvas setting up the page height and width to an A3 setting and applying a white background. This setup will allow me to design my newspaper they way I want it without using a template.

I have used a conventional four column layout to start of me development of my second page.

The four column layout will allow me to draw the rest of my features on the page allowing them to all be in scale.

Stage Three

The second stage of my development of my second page is to layout the design of my front page. I have started by drawing out boxes where everything will go and have followed the conventional measurements for each box. I have included two stories on the second page which follows conventions. I have challenged conventions when designing the second page by adding two columns of adverts instead of including a contact us column and the weather details.

I have included adverts within the second page for a variety of reasons. Having adverts allows the paper to be funded. Due to the paper being free it needs to get its funding from somewhere. I like the fact that the page isn’t to over crowded with information. I have done it this way due to me targeting a younger audience who wouldn’t like there to be too much information squeezed into one page.

Stage Four

I have developed my front page by adding in the newspaper title. I started off by designing the masthead on Photoshop then transferred it over to my newspaper. I like the fact that I have used two different fonts in the title due to it challenging masthead conventions. The blue in the masthead connotes that the paper is neutral and therefore non-biased in the stories that it produces. The blue makes the front page stand out which will hopefully grab people’s attention.

Having laid out my page with text boxes this will allow me to develop my page quickly by just placing each item in the right box.

Stage Five

I have started to draw to the boxes out where the news and brief will be positioned. I have included a news and brief due to it being one of the conventions of a free local newspaper. The news and brief will include four different pictures of different sports.

This is my front page. I have developed this page further by adding different aspects to my masthead. I have put website details which will allow people to visit my website for more details about stories and the paper. I have also added the date, both of these features are conventional for a masthead in a newspaper. I have also designed my own plug, offering the reader a chance to go and see a six nation’s game.

I have developed my front page further by adding in my stories. I have chosen a soft and a hard story, this is another convention for a newspaper. My hard story is about a celebrity helping save a local pool from being shut down. This will appeal to my audience due to the story affecting them or people they know. A hard story is designed to make the audience get involved. My soft story that I have chosen is about a local footballer making it into Erith football club’s first team. The photo shows the footballer in action.

Stage Six

Stage Seven

There are a variety of different aspects that I like about my first draft of my masthead. I have used a variety of different conventions that would be seen on an everyday paper such as, the website details, the date and a plug. However there are a few details missing such as the papers slogan. I like the fact that the plug is advertising a giveaway prize to a national event. The masthead is bright and attractive.

I have developed my paper further by adding an advert at the bottom of the page. The advert is advertising a 25% discount on all USN sporting supplements. I have included this advert in my paper because it will be something relevant to my target audience who is most likely to use these supplements. The advert includes a website allowing people to read up more about the product and other deals on other sporting documents. Having website details allows the reader to explore more into the product. I have chosen an advert with a dark blue background due to it fitting in with the colour scheme of the paper. Having a blue colour scheme on the paper gives of a neutral look and could represent the paper as being a non-biased paper.

I have included an advert on the front page for a variety of reason. Due to my paper being free, I will mainly rely on funding from advertising. Having more adverts will mean that I will get more funding allow me to expand my newspaper corporation.

This is my first page draft for my newspaper. There are allot of aspects that I like about the front page and aspects that I don’t and therefore will develop to improve it. I like the colour scheme used due to it being bright and attractive which will attract the eye of my customer.

I like the fact that I have included a sporting advert on my front cover. This will appeal to my target audience due to my paper targeting the sporting population and the advert being about sport supplements. Having paper will allow my paper to be funded due to it being a free paper. This funding will allow the paper to expand.

I like the fact that I have included a news and brief on my front cover for a variety of different reasons. A news and brief allows my audience to see what the paper contains and what page certain sports are on. It allows the audience to turn to pages they want instead of looking through the whole paper. A news and brief is a convention used on a majority on papers in today’s market. The aspect that I would change on the news and brief is the page number, due to it being hard to see the writing.

I like the fact the main picture relates to a local event that has occurred. I think that this will attract a more local audience and hopefully will appeal to them. The picture quality itself isn’t that good and that will be something that I will look to change in my next draft. Having a picture that isn’t relevant to the title is a convention used in papers in today’s market. There are a few things that I’m looking to change in my second draft of my front page.

Stage Eight

This is my second page of my news paper. I have started to develop it by adding in my story. I have chosen a story about England winning the sevens cup. This is un-conventional for a local newspaper due to it being national news instead of local news. However I have decided to include it within my paper because I think it will appeal to my target audience for a variety of reasons. Part of my audience will be rugby players following England’s progress and the rest of my audience my want to know how England got on in the sevens world cup. As this story is un-conventional for a local newspaper it is something that I am looking to change.

The font used is size eleven which is conventional for a local newspaper. I have designed it so that the title is larger and bolder than the rest of the writing so that it stands out from the page.

Stage Nine

I have developed my second page by adding in adverts and another story. The other story I have chosen to add is a hard story about a celebrity trying to stop a pool from closing down. I have decided to include this into my paper due to it being relevant to people in the local area. Having a story like this is a convention of a local newspaper due to it making people aware of events like this happening. Having a picture of a celebrity might attract people to read the article.

This is my first draft for my second page of my news paper. There are a variety of aspects that I like about the design and content and there is some aspect that I want to change. There are a variety of features that meet the conventions of local newspapers and some that challenge them. For example the four column layout of the news paper and including a story with a celebrity in it meet newspaper conventions and features like having six adverts positioned on the page challenges newspaper conventions. I have included a variety of different adverts due to it fitting in with the conventions of a free local paper. Due to my paper being free the

I have included a variety of different adverts on this side of the page as well as including them on the other side. I have included an advert about sports direct due to it relating to my target audience. It is a sporting advert which fits in with the sporting genre of my paper. I have also included an advert about a sporting event which might appeal to my target audience. The two blank spaces will also include adverts.

Stage Ten

This is my improved news and brief column. I have improved a variety of different things about this column. I have included page numbers to each section which allows the reader of the paper to see what pages different sports are on. This allows the reader to turn to pages that they want to read instead of flicking through the whole paper to find the section that they are interested in. Having a news and brief is a convention of a free newspaper.

Another feature that I have developed on this news and brief is the fact that the writing and page numbers are in text boxes that are slightly opaque making it easier for the reader to see the writing. Before I developed this column, it was hard to read the writing, now the writing stands out from the picture making it easier to read. I have used different colours to separate each section and to make the column aesthetically pleasing.

Stage Eleven

I have developed my front pages further by changing the picture. The picture I had before was an action clip of someone playing football. I have taken another photo because the photo’s quality before wasn’t that good and there was only one person in the shot. This time I have taken a shot of him heading the ball jumping above a defender. I have chosen to use this photo due to it showing people in action which will appeal to my target audience more than just one person in a photo.

I have developed this section further by re-writing the story and adding and editorial line. An editorial line allows the reader to see who has written the extract and what section of the paper he has written it for. I have decided to develop this feature due to it adding another newspaper convention. Every newspaper in today’s market has an editorial line allowing the reader to see what editor has written the story. I have added a phone number within the story allowing my reader to ring up if they have any questions or queries.

Stage Twelve

This is my improved masthead. I think this masthead will appeal to my audience more than the first one did for a variety of reasons. I have included a paper slogan which will sell the paper and sums up the papers values. The slogan “Bringing sport to you” suggests that the paper having everything about sport that the reader will want know. It is bringing local sport to the reader. The colours used are vibrant and neutral which will appeal to the majority of my target audience in the categories c1-e1. I have also changed the positioning of the date and website details and positioned them in the bottom right hand corner making the masthead more organized making it clearer to read.

I have improved my plug by including website details. This allows people to visit the website and find out more details about the competition and will allow them to see other competitions that are on offer.

Stage Thirteen

Stage Fourteen

Overall I am very happy with the development of my front page. On one side it sticks to newspaper conventions and on the other side challenges them. It challenges them by including sticking to a four column layout instead of the usual five, however the four column layout is a convention for free local papers. It sticks to conventions by having the date, website details and a slogan within the masthead. I like the layout used and I think that the features I’ve used makes the paper stand out and makes it noticeable. I also like the colour scheme used due to it giving the paper a neutral feel connoting a non biased paper.

This is my finished front page. One feature that I like allot is the masthead. I like the fact that it includes the website details which allows readers to visit our website to learn and read about our corporation. I also like the plug that I designed. It suites the colour scheme of the paper. I like the fact that it is offering a chance to see a six nation’s game which would appeal to my target audience. The only thing that I would change about the masthead is the slogan. It doesn’t really appeal to a young audience.

This is my developed news and brief. I like the fact that I have included a news and brief within my front page because it allows my audience to see what pages different sports are on. The only aspect that I would change about the news and brief are the pictures. Some of them aren’t the best quality which brings the overall aesthetics of the front page down. Having a news and brief follows the conventions of a newspaper.

This is my final developed story for the front page. I like the fact that I have followed the newspaper conventions by including two different stories on the front page. I also like the fact that the picture is an action shot which I think will appeal more to my audience. I have also included an editorial line which is also a convention allowing the reader to know who has written the story.

Stage Fifth teen

I have started to develop my second by creating an upcoming events column which will replace some of the adverts on my second page. I have chosen to do this to allow my audience to see what teams are playing in which sport. This challenges the conventions due to the fact that free papers normally include more adverts for more funding. I have removed them because I think this column will appeal to my audience more than adverts will. I have included local fixtures for football, rugby, basketball and athletics. I have chosen these sports because the majority of my audience will be involved with one or more of these sports.

I have chosen to use a blue theme to upcoming events column due to it fitting in with the colour scheme on the front page. It gives a neutral look. I have included website details which allow the reader to visit the page for more details and information about the upcoming events.

Stage Sixth teen

I have started to develop even further by creating a contact us column which will replace some of the adverts on my second page. I have chosen to do this to allow my audience to contact us if they have any queries or questions. This is a convention of newspaper having a column which allows the reader to see the telephone number, website details, email details, the head quarters and where the paper is distributed.

I have used the colour red within this column for a variety of different reasons. The red makes the column stand out from the page and makes it noticeable to the reader. I have use white writing as the colour for the title due to it being noticeable within the red border. I have chosen to have this column instead of the adverts due to it meeting the conventions of a newspaper.

I have developed the second page even further by changing the photography and story. I have chosen to write a story about a local boy who is pushing for a professional contract at Chelsea football club. I decided to include this story due to it being a soft story instead of a hard story. As I am trying to target a younger audience in the C1-E1 category softer stories will appeal to them more than harder stories. My target audience will also like to know about people in their local area making it as a professional football. The story is relevant to people in my catchment area. I have included an editorial line saying who wrote the story due to it being a convention of a local newspaper. I have also changed the image to make it relevant to the story. It shows the local boy working hard in the gym to achieve his goal.

I have developed this page further by changing the layout of the story. I have changed the positioning of the picture to the top left of the page instead of having it on the right. It allows more room for the story and other features to be included on the page. I have written a short but snappy story which will appeal to my audience. It will appeal because my target audience prefer shorter stories due to them not wanting to read allot on one story. They are also a younger audience and reading too much on one story will put them off reading the paper. My target audience are more likely to read my paper on a bus or on the way to work so having short stories means that they are more likely to read more stories.

Stage Seventeen

I have developed the second page even further by changing the photography and story. I have chosen to write a story about a local girl who sponsorship contract has just fallen through leaving her without proper training equipment. I decided to include this story due to it being a hard story instead of a hard story. It is a convention of a newspaper to include a hard story within the paper. This allows the reader to feel sorry for the girl and donate to her. I have chosen to write a story about this girl due to her living in the area where my newspaper is distributed and that it will affect some people who read my newspaper.

I have developed this paper even further by adding and editorial line in and by changing the photography. It is part of the conventions of newspapers to include and editorial line due to it allowing the reader to see who has written the story. I have also included a photo to go with the story. I have chosen a photograph like this because it shows the girls emotions and how she feels. A picture like this will hopefully make the reader feel sorry for her and donate to her cause.

Stage Eighteen

This is final development of my second page. There are a variety of features that I like and some that I would improve if I had more time. I have followed certain conventions on this page and at the same time challenged certain conventions. I like the fact that I have stuck to a four column layout which makes my page presentable and not to over crowded with information. I like the fact that I have included some adverts which follows the conventions of a free local paper. I like the fact that I have challenged certain conventions by including an upcoming events column and by not including a weather section on the page.

I like the fact that the stories included on the second page are relevant to people in the local area. I haven’t included and national stories due to my paper being distributed locally not nationally. I like the photographs within the paper due to them being of high quality compared to the ones that I used within my first draft. I like the fact that I have followed conventions by including editorial lines allowing the reader to see who has written the story.

I like how I have developed the layout of the page. The first draft of my second page didn’t include that much information such as the upcoming events and contact us column. The first draft looked bare compared to the final draft which offers more information to the reader in the same space. The adverts used relate to the sporting status of the paper due to them all being related to sport in some way. However I would change the land rover advert to something more appealing to the reader.

Overall I am very pleased with the final development of my paper. I feel that I have included and challenged conventions on both the front page and second page. I am pleased with the colour scheme used throughout the whole paper connoting a neutral non-biased paper. I am pleased with the photography used and the chosen stories due to them all relating to the local area and the places where the paper is distributed. I am glad that I have used a news and brief and feel that this will appeal to my audience more than another story would.