Week 18 (w/c 31/1/11)

I am now looking at radio adverts created by other students to learn from their mistakes.


This advert has a good concept but I think that the quality of sound is very bad, they are speaking to fast so it is difficult to understand what they are saying. I need to make sure that my radio advert is clear.



This advert is also good but I think that the pace is to slow all the way through, as a listener I would probably stop listening half way through, also the last section does not make sense. My advert needs to be attention grabbing and upbeat.



This advert is my favourite advert because it is humorous and involves a family showing desperation for each section of the newspaper. the problems with this advert is that the sound quality is very bad and there is about 10 seconds silence at the beginning. 


I need to make sure that my radio advert does not have to many gaps that are too long and I need to make sure that the quality of sound is much better than the ones i have looked at because that seems to be the most commonly made common mistake.

Week 17 (w/c 24/1/11)

I have decided that I will be doing a radio advert for my second ancillary task. The reason for this is that I think it would be better to advertise my advert on the radio, as studies have shown that radio adverts are one of the most effective forms of advertisement. I also feel I have done enough design based work and I would like to try some new software, and I would like to experience working with audio, rather than still image.

In order to research radio adverts I spent time listening to the radio, I used a timer to measure how long each advert was. I found that a radio advert is usually 30 seconds (plus or minus 10 seconds). When I was listening to the adverts I also wanted to hear what style is typically used (e.g. funny, serious, conversational etc.) I found that there are a lot of light humoured adverts and adverts with jingles or catchy (bordering on annoying) songs,such as the “go compare” advert. I also looked at television advertisements for inspiration; I found a few I like, I liked the Co-operative adverts and I liked the TotalJobs.com adverts.

Another advert I listened to was the MI5 advert, they jumbled up the words so it didn’t make sense then said “if you enjoy solving puzzles….” This advert stands out to me. But I was unable to find it online.


My radio advert would be played on radio stations such as LBC 97.3, Capital FM 95.8, and Kiss FM 100.0. This is because these are the kind of radio stations that my demographic listen to. The advert will be played during the breakfast radio shows, at 6am - 9am, and the 5pm - 9pm slot. This is because my demographic will be listening to the radio at these times, at other times they will probably be working or spending time with their family.

Week 16 (w/c 17/1/11)

Here is my final product. I have decided I will make more than one of these so that my teacher and peers can advise me on which one is best to build upon. I decided not to use the Battersea Power Station image in the background as I had planned, this is because i think it would make the poster far too busy and the image of the building does not work well with the image of the face.  



This is the design I have chosen.



The following are the other ones I designed to allow my classmates and teachers to tell me which design I should stick to and develop.

Week 15 (w/c 10/1/11)

I have taken the pictures for my poster. I have selected 8 pictures that I think are the best. They are all basically the same thing but there are differences in lighting, size, clarity and the emotions on the face of my model. 

1) I like this image but i cannot use it because it is out of focus. Also, the top of her head is cut off

2) This is a very good image but i do not want to use it because there is a black stain on her finger, I could edit this out but i would like to use an image that does not require any editing.

3) the problem with this picture is the same as the previous one, the stain on her finger is visible. Also she is looking at the camera, in my plan she was looking straight ahead.

4) This picture is much better, this picture would be easier to use than the others. There is also good lighting.

 5) This picture is also really good, but she is looking toward the camera. We decided to try this pose because it looks more friendly than it does with  her facing forward. but the problem with this pose is that I was unable to get the "Get Yours Now" to look like it was coming out of her mouth properly.

6) This picture has the same problem as the previous one.

7) This picture has the same problem as the previous one.





























8) I decided to use this picture because it best suits the design I have drawn up and will allow me to put “get yours now” in properly. The reason I wanted my model to use this pose is because it fits the title of the newspaper “South London Shout”, it looks like she is shouting.

My model is an 18 year old female of Pakistani origin. The reason I chose her is that she has a very good ‘side-view’ and she is very pretty. I think that people will see her and instantly feel an sense of community, because of her race and ethnicity. I did not want my model to be a white female because white females are typically used in advertising.

The fact that I am even using a person on my poster breaks conventions of a typical newspaper poster; all the examples I found did not feature any person or people to promote the newspaper. But they did use a lot of words, this is a convention I will be following because the newspaper isn’t established at all so has no reputation, which means in order to build one I will have to use words.

Week 14 (w/c 3/1/11)

Here are some designs I have drawn up for my first ancillary product, the launch poster. I have two basic ideas; plain and busy. Plain means a simple layout, not too much writing and not too many pictures. Busy means more than one picture and a lot more text.

The first one simply says “South London Shout” and “get yours now!”. Although my research shows than newspaper posters thrive on their simplicity, I don’t think I want my poster to be too plain and simple. But I definitely want my poster to contain this picture or one similar to it. I also like the idea of having the words coming out of an open mouth; it gives imagery for the “shout” part of the name of the newspaper.

So the second design has the same picture but this time I have included a picture of Battersea power station. This is because the nameplate features a picture of the Battersea power station, and the South London Shout is going to be sold in Battersea, so the use of the Battersea power station will indicate this to my audience. I have also added more words, these words are the contents of the newspaper – “News, Sport, Fashion, Opinions” and under the mouth it says “Local newspaper”. This is similar to The Sun’s advertisement with the ‘receipt’ that includes the contents of their newspaper and what they offer.

I really like the idea of using content on the advert. So for my third design I have done the same thing as the second design but this time, instead of using the Battersea power station I am using words, such as news, sport, fashion, gossip, opinions, games, days out,  lifestyle, community, to fill the background.

My final design is similar to the previous one but it includes a picture of the Battersea power station. I have decided that I will not be using this design. It is far too busy and because of this people will not be able to understand what I am trying to convey.

Week 13 (w/c 13/12/10)

I am researching some of the newspaper posters

I am now looking at the launch posters for newspapers. One newspaper I have found that was launched recently is ‘i’ from the publishers of the ‘Independent’. They claim to be a concise, straight forward and modern newspaper.

http://www.mediaweek.co.uk/news/1035446/Independent-launch-first-quality-daily-newspaper-25-years/

This is a picture of some of the pages in I’s promotional hand out that was given in the Evening Standard a couple of weeks before its release. If possible, it would be nice to do something like this, because i think that giving free samples is an effective form of advertising. 

I am also looking at the posters of established newspapers:

        I have learned that the use of words is important. In this poster they only use words, but the main word is “read”, the only problem is that this poster does not have the name of the newspaper it is advertising. The fact that there is no name on this advertisement shows how well established this newspaper is, I wouldn't be able to benefit from emulating this format.

I have learned that the use of  words is also very important for this advertisement. They only use words. They do show the name of the newspaper. I like this layout because the simplicity of this is what appeals to the audience. They include the name of their newspaper, this is good because it allows viewers to know exactly what they are going to buy.  

        This advertisement uses only words as well. I like this advertisement  because it has a long list of items (the contents of the newspaper) that comes to a total of 30p (the price of the newspaper). I like the idea of having the contents of the newspaper on the poster because it allows the viewer to have an insight into what is inside the newspaper before they buy it.

This advertisement uses an image as well as text. The image matches the wording. Showing that they stand out from the other newspapers. I also like the fact that they have used an image, unlike the others who have used words to form a picture or simply used words alone. 

Week 12 (w/c 06/12/10)

Here are screen shots of my final design for my cover and inside pages that I completed this week.