Mast Head / Nameplate

Date

Ea
r

Roman
Serif

Silhouette
Price
skybox

Light
weight
font

Heavy
weight font

Image
Column
rule

Gutte
r

White space

Stand-alone
photo
Cop
y
Banner
advertisem
ent

Sidebar
advert
Headline
Jump

Cut-off

Ea
r

Skybox
Mast Head / Nameplate

Silhouett
e

Date
White space
Heavy
weight font

Price

Image
Cut-off rule
Nibs,
news in
brief

Column
rule
Gutte
r
Stand alone
image
Headline

Mast Head / Nameplate

Ea
r

Roman
Serif
Headline
White space
Heavy
weight font

skybox
Image
Cut-off rule

Roman
Serif
Column
rule

Stand-alone
photo

From my research into the analysis of newspaper front pages I have found that there are some specific conventions to creating a
front page spread.
Some of these key features are listed below:
Masthead/Nameplate the name of a newspaper as it is displayed on page one, can also be called a flag.
Ear text or graphic element on either side of a newspaper nameplate.
Skybox teasers that run above the nameplate on page one.
Banner advertisement an advertisement stripped across the top of a web page.
Teaser an eye-catching graphic element on Page one that promotes an item inside (promo)
Headline large type running above or beside a story to summarize its content.
Byline the reporters name, usually at the beginning of a story.
Copy the text of a story.
Column a vertical stack of text.
Jump to continue a story on another page; texts thats been continued on another page
Continuation line type telling the reader that a story continues on another page
Column rule a vertical line separating stories running between legs within a story.
Cutoff rule a horizontal line running under a story, photo or cutline to separate it from another element below
Gutter the space running vertically between columns
White space areas of a page free of any type or artwork
Font all the characters in one size and weight of a typeface
Weight the boldness of type, based on the thickness of its characters
Roman upright type, as opposed to italic, also called normal or regular
Seriff the finishing stroke at the end of a letter; type without these decorative strokes is called sans seriff
Image any photo, illustration or imported graphic displayed on a page
Mug shot a small photo showing a persons face
Silhouette a photo where the background has been removed, leaving only main subject
Stand-alone photo a photo that doesnt accompany a story, usually boxed to show it stands alone.
Quote words spoken by someone in a story.
Date the date in which the newspaper was printed
Price the price so that customers can see how much the newspaper is

Now that I have identified

these
features
and
conventions of newspaper
front pages I will be sure to
use them when creating my
local newspaper print task. I
also made sure that I was
analysing local newspapers so
therefore I could make my
own local newspaper front
page more accurate and avoid
differentiation
between
conventions of local and
national newspapers.

I have also come to the conclusion that,

after collating my audience research, a
formal North Somerset Times style
newspaper is the type of print I want to
create as it was the most popular
newspaper to read when given the option
between the Bath Chronicle, Bristol Post,
and The North Somerset Times on my
audience research survey. Some of the
specific conventions I found for a more
formal local newspaper (North Somerset
Times, Bath Chronicle) in comparison to a
less formal local newspaper (Bristol Post)
were the use of Roman-Sans style font/text
and the use of less images and white
space. Furthermore, I want to do this for
my newspaper front page print as I can see
that having less white space and more text
in comparison to images makes a
newspaper look more intellectual and
formal, as using lots of images and varies
font sizes/weights/colours can make the
newspaper look more magazine styled
than a traditional newspaper.