Newspaper Layout II

Here are some mock layouts that I created in Adobe Indesign -

Newspaper Layout

The layout of a newspaper is important as it is responsible for which information is the main focus, where headlines are, if and where adverts are placed, etc. There is rarely any change whether the newspaper is local or national in regards to placement of the Header, however adverts may be placed above or below.

The default layout for a national Newspaper is Header at the top, either with or without an advertisement, the Main Article below, usually including a picture reference of the article. Some newspapers as shown here by The Times have simultaneous front page stories. The Times also has a listing of the other articles down the side of the front page.

However, The Daily Express has a slightly different layout as the Header always remains at the very top of the newspaper. It is followed below by the price, a preview of an article, and an advertisement all in one banner. It then proceeds to display the front page story's headline in very large letters, accompanied by a picture reference and the beginning of the article.

As you can see, with local newspapers there tend to be adverts in all four corners to support revenue and income of the newspaper suppliers in order to maintain profit, as I have discussed in a previous post.

With the Isle of Wight County Press, the Header remains at the top of the page, between two of the advertisements, and a banner showing other articles below.

The Newspaper has a mixture of articles shown on the front page, and the layout of the text and images is not as 'professional' as it would be in a National Newspaper, which would be produced using designers to correctly adjust the page layout.

Newspaper Header Survey

After being stuck on the decision between my two designs for Header of my newspaper, I conducted a survey. This was to determine whether the monocle-style 'O' was legible on my Header, as this was the point that was throwing me off.I asked 25 people at my school, the majority of which were friends, to see whether they could recognise the monocle in the letter 'O'. I recorded my results in a bar chart (below).

As shown by the results obtained, it has become apparent that the Header is indeed legible and the monocle is apparent. Based on this outcome, I will use this logo design as the header for my Newspaper.

Newspaper Header Design

Here are some designs for my Newspaper Header that I created using Adobe Illustrator.

The first design, I have dismissed due to the typeface being over-used in newspapers and in my opinion it is out-dated.

The second design uses a typeface named Georgia. I have repeated the use of this typeface throughout the following designs due to its sophisticated yet modern feel. This second design is in my opinion a better design than the first, however is too simple.

This third design is a more compact concept and I feel it works well. My only quarry is the word 'The' which seems out of place and disrupts the design.

As you can see on the forth design is similar to the third, however I have editted the letter O to represent a monocle. I made this change to add an aspect of design to the header, rather than basic text and I feel that it works well, however the placement of the word 'The' is still off.

The fifth design is one most likely to be used for my newspaper. I like this design over the majority of the others as it is simple yet fairly modern. As you can see I have aligned the text 'The Isle of Wight' to the right so that the left is less 'messy'.

The last design is similar to the above design, however features the monocle design also. Designs five and six are the ones I will be choosing my final from.

Chosen Type and Structure

For the newspaper I am creating I have chosen to produce a Weekly Newspaper. I feel this is the best choice for the project in-hand as the information displayed will be locally-based as opposed to a National newspaper, where the information would be required to be relevant to, for example, the whole of England.

The type of newspaper I have chosen is a local newspaper. However, as many online news sites such as BBC, Sky News, and CBS have pages concerning local, national and world news, I will try and vary my newspaper from other local newspapers by including some articles concerning national and world news. I will choose my headlines and front-page articles depending on the biggest story at that point in time, and also if it is relevant to local citizens.

For the structure of my newspaper I will most likely use a Tabloid format, as there would not be enough local information to fill a Broadsheet format newspaper. This said, due to having local, national and world news, I may choose a European format, for example, a Berliner format - slightly taller and marginally wider than the tabloid/compact format; and is both narrower and shorter than the broadsheet format. An example of this format is the newspaper Le Monde (left).

Newspaper Title

Local and county newspapers tend to name their newspapers based on the area/town. This is usually followed by a reference to newspapers, for example - The Isle of Wight County Press, and The Reading Chronicle. National newspapers also seem to go in this direction - connected with a reference to the newspaper industry, however do not usually have a reference to a local town/county - for example the Daily Express, The Telegraph, and the Daily Mail.

After researching the names of newspapers in the South of England on this website http://www.wrx.zen.co.uk/soupress.htm I have identified that the most common newspaper name format is 'The ____ Gazette' or the 'The ____ Herald'. Based on these codes and conventions, and to try and differ from the most common choices, I have named my local newspaper The Isle of Wight Observer.

Structure of Newspapers

The structure of local newspapers, such as my local newspaper - The Isle of Wight County Press, vary in many ways as opposed to many national newspapers - due to the revenue of the newspapers themselves. For example, you can see that there are adverts in all four corners and at the bottom of The Isle of Wight County Press - this is due to the fact that local newspapers rely on the majority of their income from advertising, rather than a national newspaper such as The Sun, who rely on huge numbers of buyers, which is why national newspapers tend to be priced lower than local newspapers.

However, this is not the case for all newspapers as leading newspapers such as The Guardian and The Telegraph are more expensive than local newspapers. This is because the news they are delivering is more relevant to the masses whereas a local newspaper will be delivering news that is more pertinent to the community or county. The difference in price is also due to the specific news of the newspaper. Articles in The Guardian will be more hard-hitting and important, therefore the newspaper companies will be paying reporters and journalists to research and discover the news.

Types of Newspaper

Daily
A daily newspaper is simply as the name states, and issued everyday. Some newspapers have exceptions of Sundays and some national holidays. Saturday editions, and sometimes Sunday editions and usually larger, include more in-depth and specialised sections, as well as having more advertising inserts, and costing more. Some newspapers have sister newspapers which run on Sundays specifically, such as the Daily Mail and the Mail on Sunday, and also the Telegraph and the Sunday Telegraph.

Weekly
Weekly newspapers, such as the Isle of Wight County Press and the Sunday Telegraph, tend to be larger than daily papers. There are also some newspapers that are published twice or three times a week. These are still classified as weekly newspapers in the United States.

National
Most nations have at least one newspaper that circulates throughout the whole country. This is a national newspaper, as contrasted with a local newspaper serving a city or region. In the United Kingdom there are numerous national newspapers, such as The Independent, The Observer, The Sun, The Daily Mail and the Daily Express.

International
There is also a small group of newspapers which may characterised as international newspapers. Some, such as The International Herald Tribune, have always had that focus, while others are repackaged national newspapers or "international editions" of national-scale or large metropolitan newspapers. Often these international editions are scaled down to remove articles that might not interest the wider range of readers.