Mock Up

When creating this mock up I have tried to stick to the usual conventions of local newspapers. To research these conventions I looked at various local newspapers. These were the Wetherby News, The Harrogate Advertiser and The Herald. The Herald is slightly different to the other two as it is free so some of the conventions are different, for example there are lots more advertisements, but I still thought it would be important to evaluate a different range of papers. I started from the top and worked downwards, first was the boosts at the top these are normally cover lines that give information on the articles in the rest of the paper, on the advertiser they are always put with images, this draws attention to the top of the page, which would normally go unnoticed. Next was the masthead which is the title of the newspaper. It is large and bold at the top, this is so it stands out and is distinguishable from other papers on the stand, on the papers I researched they were written in a formal font so that it looks like a respectable newspaper. Under this is another important convention, each paper should have the date and price on it, this is so people know they are getting the right paper for the right week and how much they are paying. I have also included the website here as it shows the paper is modern and with the times, it can also be used to read more news and information.
Underneath all of this are the articles, there is a range of articles with a range of themes, the paper focuses on human interest as after research I have found that these are the most used. This is because of the values of the local papers, they want to inform about more less depressing news about the area rather than hard, serious news. There is also hard news, entertainment and sports stories. Some of the articles have accompanying images that show certain aspects of the story and break up the text to make them more interesting. Each image has a caption to explain them and each article has a byline to show who wrote it. The images themselves have conventions that are usually followed. Those on the cover will normally have someone looking and smiling at the camera, there is also bright lighting and they are cropped so they don’t include lots of empty space. Another section I noticed why researching local papers was the small section saying that the paper is made from recycled paper, I have included this as I think that most people would prefer to buy an environmentally friendly paper. This section is also with the barcode which stores important information about the amount of stock.
As the paper is local I have included an advertisement for a local business, the carpet advertisement was a common one and they always seemed to be as a banner at the bottom of the page, there for I have stuck to this convention. When planning this mock up I first thought about the different types of articles as this would determine the layout of the page, next I started to layout the masthead and the basic outline of the articles. When I was happy with the layout I could add details such as the images and headlines. Overall as I have followed conventions I think that my mock up looks professional and could look like a real local newspaper when finished.