Style guide - Colour schemes

Colour Schemes

For the original design of my magazine, I wanted to use colours that instigated conversation, such as blues and greens. I based my colour ideas against other examples of travel magazines, most notably the National Geographic Traveller magazine. This publication uses a standard yellow border, with bold white text for the masthead, and this is symbolic of that publication.

I wanted to create something different, by using colours that complemented each other well, and didn’t affect the image of the publication in a negative way.

My initial thoughts were to avoid colours such as pinks, purples, fluorescent, and dark colours such

as black and brown.

The Traveller magazine uses oranges, in contrast with the background which is an image that has a background of blue.

The texts have three main colours, being the orange-peach shade, white, and black text.

My ideas from this were to stick to a main tri-colour scheme that complemented each other, and the background.

Inside the publication however, I noticed that pinks, purples and other colours I was going to avoid had been used.

This made me reconsider using these, as with other editions of the magazine I have, Traveller has used these colours on its front page dependent on the background.

 

Here are some other examples I have looked at.

 

 

I tried using greens and blues as my first design set for the colours.

As I was creating my first publication, I explored some of the colours and created my own colour swatch, which is the green shade I used for the border. I wanted to set a colour that wasn’t too bright, but was neutral in its affect and appeal, and also complimented the blue text.

The background image was something I had yet to explore with, although I knew what the image would entail. As it would be green and blue backgrounds in the image, I hadn’t considered how this may affect the schemes of the colours I was using.

I decide to explore a colour wheel to see if this could help me decide and consider other colours.

 

This is the first colour set based upon I tri-colour scheme that I explored. I wanted to use shades of blue still, but as researched in other publications, purple can be as affective if used against the correct background.

The orange shade would have been used as my third colour, with the main text being purple, and second a sky shade of blue.

I considered these and made some adjustments on the colour wheel, opting for an analogic set such as this one.

This adjusted the colours set, but after I had decided my background, I matched this against it and explored with these colours in alternative shades.

 

 

This was the outcome as I opted for the colour scheme above.

The masthead bodes well against the green and blue of the background, allowing the image to sit in the background centrally.

The orange shade contrasts well with the other colours in the image, such as grey and green.

The purple text on screen looks difficult to read, but as the publication will be printed on a much larger scale, which I had up scaled the image to, it is clear and legible.

My concerns with these colours are dyslexic and visually impaired people being able to read the text. This is something I am considering, but if the colour schemes work in other publications I have researched, then I will stick to my selection.

The main colours of the front page will be exhibited throughout, but not strictly, and on a page by page basis dependent on the images and other aspects on the page.

Style Guide - House Style

House Style

The publication Tourist was intended to provide information on destinations, ways to travel, experiences, and other travel related aspects.

To do this, I wanted to create a template design and writing style and build a platform for the publication to continue, and develop.

My main attribute with the writing was to ensure it was informative, yet informal, with insight into the content. The style was intended to follow a format of some articles being tourist information, a guide to the place or travel experience. Others were meant to have an element of humour, first person insight, and a personal style of writing that endeared the reader. I wanted to vary the styles of some of the articles; to experience what would work best for each, and to explore different ways of writing some of the articles that I have not attempted before. The idea with this was to learn myself, what would work best for each type of content, and how to develop my styles for each.

Being descriptive was something that is set to each of the articles that I did. I wanted to paint a picture and be in depth about each place, rather than just on overview on the main features. The articles labelled ‘British Beauties’ were intended to be short and almost advertising the places, yet I still wanted to include some elements of depth and imagination to the writing. Other articles such as St Lucia and The Streetwalker, were intended to be based upon the places, and my experiences, either portrayed in 1^st person or as an outsiders perspective.

Another reason for varying the styles was to ensure that the reader didn’t become bored with the writing, as usually, publications will have more than one writer. If I could create a section of articles, using different styles and give the reader that sense of different authors, then that would be something I was hoping to achieve with varying the styles.

Language and vocabulary were some of the obstacles that I came across. I found that certain places had the same elements, either within the same article, or similarities to other articles. Examples of this are St Lucia, and Cape Verde. They both had similar attributes and qualities in the places, so I tried to write them in a slightly different way to each other, to ensure it wasn’t just a copycat piece on a different destination.

The main feature with Tourist was to have a style that appealed to various readers and audiences. I didn’t have a specific target audience in mind, only that whoever would be interested in reading would be interested in travelling, different experiences and places, or learning about different countries. This was my main focus when writing the content. I didn’t want it to be a commercial advertising for countries, or places that are well documented. I want the magazine to have quirkiness because of the places that are written about. The only elements that I wanted to include were typical travel publication elements such as a photography competition, and lots of images. I took the essential basics of a travel publication, and included these within Tourist, but I tried to create content that had a sense of feeling and connection with the places and the experiences within them.

 

Career Prospects - Further Study

Further Study

After I graduate from Hull School of Art and Design, there are several possibilities that I am considering. One of these is to study further and to do a Master’s Degree. For this, I have decided that if I were to do so, I would look at studying in another country, as to get more experiences of lifestyle and culture, as well as going to where the best option to study my interest were. Canadian universities offer many courses that I am interested in, and it is these that I am most likely to adopt as my institution should I wish to study further.

The University of British Columbia offer an MJ Degree, Masters of Journalism. It offers an intense course, including an internship over a summer period which would be beneficial for work experience, and making contacts. My concerns are the costing’s, as I do not have the funding to pay for the course at present. It is also a small cohort, so I would need excellent grades and some experience to gain entry to the degree. This is something I would explore more, once I would receive my final grades for my BA Hons degree. The university information can be found at the following web address: http://journalism.ubc.ca/about/masterofjournalismdegree/

The other possibility I am looking at in Canada is studying a Master of Arts in Journalism at Western Ontario University. This is a yearlong programme that is intense and also offers external experience and work within the industry. This is available at:

http://www.fims.uwo.ca/acad_programs/grad/journalism.htm

I have sourced the possible locations for journalism study from the following website:        http://http-server.carleton.ca/~mmcguire/J-Ed/j-prog/u-programs.shtml

All of the possibilities depend on my financial situation, support and aid I may be entitled to, and my location and preference, as well as the grades that I receive. As I plan to explore and travel Canada in the first instance, it may become more apparent which university I either favour, or am better equipped to apply for.

Further study is something I am really excited and ambitious about, and I would wish to commence study within the first two years of completing my BA Hons Interactive Media Degree.

Career prospects - future aspirations

Future Aspirations

Opportunities

After I have finished my BA Hons Interactive Media Degree, I would like to move into industry, but I would also like to freelance, and try to build up a rapport and contact base with many institutions. This is so that I have various opportunities, and available places to gain work and experience within. I would like to continue to work within the Travel Writing sector of Journalism. As I have designed and created my own travel publication, this is something that I would look to continue and develop if possible.

Whilst at university, I saw many opportunities to create something, such as the group publication Mouth. I am not sure whether this will continue, but this would have been something that I would have personally liked to see continue and work within, as a news outlet and publication for the Hull area.

Aspirations

My main career aspirations are driven through the creation of my own publication, Tourist, as this has derived from a project, and has developed into something that I would hope to make a permanent fixture for my future. I plan to travel the U.S.A and Canada after I have graduated, and I would have opportunities from this to expand my cultural knowledge and create new publication editions of Tourist through documenting the places that I visit on my travels. I would try to use this alongside any other experiences that I have, to gain some work experience, and possibly internships, or paid freelance work whilst travelling.

Sports journalism is also something that I want to explore. I have particular interest in Athletics, Football, and NFL, and I hope to use these to gain some much needed experience in the field. I would also like to develop this into a career of broadcasting within sports journalism, and I would look to gain any experience possible to help me achieve this.

Other areas I am also interested in include economic and political writing, but I would be more inclined to do this as a columnist rather than a news reporter.

The Mission

My main mission in my journalism career would be to have my own travel publication, whilst also freelance writing for various other publications in travel, sports, and general news sections of newspapers and publications. I would also wish to develop a strong online presence, and communicate my career through digital means, and use interactive based programmes such as Storify, and my own blog, to record journalistic content and views.

Obstacles

Broadcasting is the area that I have least experience within, so I would need to develop this, and build a range of contacts within the industry before it may be possible to follow a career in sports broadcasting.

 

First Target

My main focus will be, from leaving my degree, to continue to develop, and expand the publication Tourist that I created as part of my degree, and develop this into my own company in the future.

Logo's and Masthead ideas

Design ideas - Pages - St Lucia, T.E.F.L, British Beauty, Dortmund, (pg. 4-17)

Design ideas - Pages - cover - contents (1,2,3)

Easter Chart of progress and to do list

Contribution to degree show - Room design 1

 

I have designed a brief copy of what the Interactive media room for the Degree show may look like based upon what we have already discussed. Some of these aspects may change. We may also need to inform people of who may need to do installation in the room. We have also considered painting the back wall black, so that the copy of our publication Mouth will stand out more on the back wall.

 

 

Design Idea for Ibiza cover and content

Progress report March 2013

This is a report of my progress with the travel Magazine I am creating

Progress report and chart of jobs to do

This is a personal chart of the work that needs to be done including timescales and roles for myself and other members of my group.

Contribution to Degree show - Flyers

As part of my roles to assist with the flyers I have been in contact and designed a first sketch of these with a member of the web design group. This is my initial sketch.

 

Stuart then did some deigns based upon this and this is the most recent copy of the design.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I will continue to liaise with him to ensure that the flyers are delivered on time, and with any editing and further work on the flyers.

Follow all the events of Journalism Day 2013 here

Journalism Day 2013 @ Hull Truck

Free Running article draft 1

Free running is an urban sport that is continuing to rise in popularity since its emergence over the last decade. Many young people and adults have taken up the acrobatic sport, which also incorporates gymnastics, and martial arts.

The sport has however recently caused controversy in the East Yorkshire seaside town of Bridlington.

On Tuesday the 26^th of February, calls were made to the police regarding an attempted burglary on Queen Street shortly after six pm.

Officers attended the call and later arrested four people aged 14, 16, and two that were 17.

The teenagers informed the police that they were free running on the buildings in the area, and were not attempting a burglary.

They were later released, but local police have warned about the dangers of free running, and the assumptions that may be made by people who witness the sport.

Detective Sergeant Tom Napier, said: “Whilst no offences were committed on this occasion there are obvious risks attached to such activities and it is also very likely to be deemed as anti-social behaviour.”

Free running, which is also known as Parkore, has gained much publicity, and had many plaudits since its recognition as a sport.

Although there are many organisations offering free running courses in areas such as London, where the sport is more popular, in areas such as Bridlington, opportunities to practice the sport are limited.

Police in the Bridlington area have however advised against participation in the sport in the area.

Mr. Napier said,

"Police will intervene if any cases are brought to light and I would strongly advise against taking part in this sort of activity." 

Although it may be not be popular with the police and local residents, free running is a sport that is practiced predominantly outdoors, and it may be a case that occurrences such as these become more frequent in the future.

Contribution to Degree Show – My personal roles within the New Media Group

I have volunteered to help design and produce the flyers as part of advertising the Degree show. For this, I will draw up initial design ideas, sketches, and work with a member of the web design course to produce this.

I am also looking at gaining publicity through BBC Radio Humberside and their news desk. I am going to contact the morning show with David Burns, and see if I could have a short slot on his show promoting the night of the degree show. This would be something that in would also ask about the possibility of the Look North team covering on the evening of the show, as part of promoting it to the public.

I am also representing the group at the meetings alongside one or two other members of the group. This will allow me to discuss and confer the issues and ideas of the team and the whole group within an environment where discussions can progress.

Contribution to Degree Show – Ideas and roles for newsroom

For the show, as we are turning the room into a newsroom, I have thought it may be beneficial to assign roles and contribute our ideas either through basecamp, and face to face to ensure that we progress.

For this, as we have had the discussion regarding the room partitions and areas, we should also need to discuss décor, installation on the walls, the feel and look of the area, as well as how we want to represent ourselves as journalists.

Idea 1

For the entry to the journalism newsroom area, I thought it would be beneficial, and professional to have a welcoming pull up standing poster that would introduce the area, the course, and what we stand for.

An idea for this would be to have a slogan, or catchphrase, and as we are journalists, I had thought about “We’re setting the Agenda.”

This would be placed on to the poster along with our course title, interactive media, and the HCUK logo. This would be themed in the style green that we have been allocated by the wider group of New Media Branch.

Idea 2

We had discussed also having a table in the centre of the room and on this placing the publication Mouth in print. We would also have business cards, and place these there for prospective employers and industry professionals to view and take.

Idea 3

I am, as part of the whole New media production, going to contact BBC Radio Humberside, to ask them to mention the degree show, and inquire about a possible interview on The Burnsy Show which runs weekday mornings.

If this were to be successful, I would also invite them to the degree show, and look at possibly running a live newsroom for the BBC Look North team to set up and use to report form on the night of the Degree show.

This is something that I am personally looking at doing as part of gaining publicity for the show, and as part of promoting and advertising the show.

 

Contribution Degree show – “Mouth”

As the project from last semester is going to be used to represent what we had done as a group, it needs some editing and work to perfect it.

One of these aspects is editing the original pieces, and then adding to the publication with images, and a full sports section at the back. I am going to produce the content for the sports section, as well as edit parts of the publication.

I will be looking at doing a range of articles, from reports, to feature columns.

Also, I am going to look at adding images to already completed articles as I feel that this will benefit the publication as a whole.

This needs to be completed as soon as possible to allow time for other commitments.

Contribution to Degree show – room preparation

As our group we have decided to turn the usual room we study in, into a newsroom for the degree show. This will consist of the 6 of us turning the full area into a modern newsroom for the attendees of the show.

In this initial process, there had been some confusion and debate on how to set the room out, as each individual had their own wants and needs for the space. It was however decided in early stages, that the full room should have a representation of the whole group, and as such, I had suggested we put our own publication ‘Mouth’ on the back wall, enlarged, for it to be viewed. We had also considered a projector with a newsreel, and cropped cuts of video that we have done as a group over the last 3 years, playing on a loop.

We had encountered some issues with this such as lighting, and this may result in us using a T.V, and making a DVD to show on this.

As we are separating each person’s area off, we needed to ask about work that may need to be done. I along with 2 other group members asked about getting partitions in-between each workstation.

I also measured the room parts which we need allocating for work, and also discussed the room layout with other members of the group.

We will continue to discuss this and progress the ideas and design the room layout and features.

Newsroom writing, Daily Mail, chef draft 2

A chef has recently been refused an operation under the NHS for excess skin removal after shedding 12 stone.

Gregg Wrigley has been dieting for the last three years, but was shocked to find that under the current terms, the NHS in Bolton have refused to give him the surgery he desires as it is classed as cosmetic surgery.

“It’s classed as cosmetic surgery. Its not exactly fair,” Said Mr. Wrigley.

Mr. Wrigley has changed his lifestyle dramatically. At one point he weighed 27 stone, and has managed to lose 15 stone over the last three years.

“I’ve done all the hard work, dieting and exercising. I even joined weightwatchers.” Said Mr. Wrigley

At 15 stone, Gregg desires an operation to remove skin in areas of his body he feel embarrassed about.

“I want the skin on my stomach, arms and thighs removed. It probably weighs a stone and a half by itself. Its hideous.”

Under the current rules, gastric bands are available on the NHS.

Mr. Wrigley continues to diet, but unless the NHS in Bolton makes the operation available to him, it may all be in vain.

Newsroom exercise - Daily Mail chef story, draft 1

A chef has recently been refused an operation under the NHS for excess skin removal after shedding 12 stone.

Mr. Wrigley has been dieting for the last three years, but was shocked to find that under the current terms, the NHS in Bolton have refused to give him the surgery he desires as it is classed as cosmetic surgery.

“It’s classed as cosmetic surgery. Its not exactly fair,” Said Mr. Wrigley.

At one point Mr. Wrigley weighed 27 stone, and has managed to lose 15 stone over the last three years, and he continues to diet still.

“I’ve done all the hard work, dieting and exercising. I even joined weightwatchers.” Said Mr. Wrigley

At 15 stone, Gregg desires an operation to remove skin in areas of his body he feel embarrassed about.

“I want the skin on my stomach, arms and thighs removed. It probably weighs a stone and a half by itself. Its hideous.”

Under the current rules, gastric bands are available on the NHS.

Mr. Wrigley continues to diet still, but unless the NHS in Bolton makes the operation available to him, it may all be in vain.

Initial Ideas, group and individual tasks

Ideas for portfolio

In this module there will be a degree show of which I will have to showcase all of my best work. For this, I have an idea to create an interactive newspaper through In design, and make it available on the I books author.

To do this, I will need to work on becoming more knowledgeable about the software, and learning how to use it in the most advanced ways I can.

Ideas I have are to have shorthand writing as the headline to introduce myself as a journalist, as there will be professionals from industry present. I would also like to incorporate video and motion pictures into the newspaper with myself, and my work showcasing thing I have done.

Another idea I have is to do a voiceover for the newspaper, so that when people turn the pages, my voice would introduce the page, and any of the content. I would try to link the voice triggering with the pages so that it flows and runs continually and this would mean that I would also not have to continuously explain certain aspects of the newspaper in person.

I am also going to have a room divider board next to my Mac, and showcase in print some of the best work that I have done, including my travel publication of which I am in the process of doing for the individual practice.

Group Tasks

Aside from the individual part of the module, there is also a large group project to set up and create the basis and set up for the actual degree show itself. To do this, we have split into our professional groups, and have been assigned particular tasks to tackle. The Interactive Media cohort has been assigned with promotion and advertising.

I have already had some ideas for this, such as contacting local radio stations, and aiming to have an interview promoting the degree show. To do this, I would need to have full details of the show, and all aspects associated with it so that I can contact the BBC Humberside station, and give them full details of my request. I would also look at getting the presenter to mention it on his show closer to the time as a reminder.

Other aspects I have thought of are looking at local businesses for food and drink, in return for advertising their business. This would be a good way to save money and gain audience for our show.

As all of this is a huge task, I have devised a schedule and a progress report on what will need to be done, and who by, and when for. This is fairly vague at the moment, but it outlines the basics of what we know so far, and what needs to be done to ensure that it progresses. I have done this for my own purposes, but I am going to suggest that the whole group does one in large print, to place in the room for reference.

Over the coming weeks, I will aim to work on my individual ideas, and help with anything that I am assigned to do for the group aspects. I will also contact the BBC about promoting the show, but only when I have full details of this.

Overall Evaluation

Overall Evaluation

The process of creating a piece of content for a client as a group has been one that has been difficult, but I have also learned a lot of useful skills in working as a team. I felt that I have been forefront in leadership within the project, and this has also helped me to develop some skills, and learn how to manage projects in the future.

One of the main concerns that seemed to be raised is that ‘we do not work well as a group.’ I do not agree that this was the case though, as I think if people had of communicated more efficiently, and used the tools at our disposal, and worked more as a team, rather than a group of individuals, the process would have been far more eloquent and progressive.

I feel that a lot of people used this notion of not working well, and made it difficult to work together, as they did not listen, communicate or get involved when needed.

I took a more forefront role within this project as I wanted to produce something positive, and strong to place in my portfolio, and I also felt that we could have kept this publication going and turned it into something more regular, rather than just a piece for the purposes of study.

This was extremely disappointing for me, as I had tried, and spoken, and done as much as I possibly could to ensure that this project moved forward, ran smoothly, and made progress, to try and produce it for a date, and for a purpose. I specifically wrote content for it to be produced in the beginning of December, of which by this time, I had finished all of my content ready for the publication, and I had also edited what I had available to me.

The problem was that I did not have a lot of the work available to edit, nor did it seem that a lot of people had done the work for this period.

It wasn’t that we needed to have it produced for this date, as the deadlines for submission were weeks later, but I did ask, and say, and people agreed, that we could have printed and distributed the publication for Christmas. If I had of known that this would have not been the case then I would have not made extra time and effort for getting the work done and helping people with their work, as well as my own, to work to the deadlines of the first week in December, as we would have had more time.

The team as a whole let themselves down, as there was no reason that we could have not produced something to a very high standard, just as high as it would have been for the official deadline, if people had of communicated better, worked harder, and made more effort.

Making an observation, I had done five main journalism news pieces, for the begging of December, as well as edited, and found images, designed pages, and organised timescales. From the pieces I had edited, I did not see why it was not possible for others to do the same, and therefore we could have produced something together as a group.

The main ideas for design were that we would all do the content, then come together 2 weeks prior to publishing, to look at designs, and discuss ideas. I had raised these points on basecamp and in college too. This did not happen, as I and one or two other members of the group did do this in the college building, when others were present, but chose not to give their input. This is a prime example were people did not communicate their ideas or input work to the group.

Content, editing, and putting the initial ideas together took a lot longer than it needed to. In simplicity of just researching stories, looking what was out there, writing it, editing it, and then making it available to put in the publication, could have been done in a matter of weeks. Although it was important to make sure that everything was to a high standard and done properly, I don’t feel that this was impossible to do for a distribution in December.

In my honest opinion, I feel that people did not pull their weight in making sure that as a group, we did the best we could. Even if the work was to a high standard, or if there was a lot of it, if the group can’t see it and it’s not available to look at, then that is not good communication.

It was very difficult to say this to the group, as I found it could come across bossy, or aggressive, but it is a piece of work that I personally would have liked to have given a real go at trying to produce for a real client. If we said that we were going to do a publication for Hull, the people of Hull should have been able to view our publication, otherwise there is no client.

This was the most frustrating part of the project, when I felt so passionately about producing something for other purposes than just the work. It was an opportunity wasted and for them reasons I am very disappointed.

I enjoyed the process of doing the work, researching, finding stories, coming up with ideas, and having input with other areas too. I wrote various articles, all of which were different, and this allowed me to really express and try new ideas with writing, and creating stories, from basic ideas, such as the main news story.

Overall, I feel that my experience would have been a lot more productive if the team had worked better, but this didn’t stop me from enjoying and making the most of putting something together as a group, and experimenting with new ideas and roles.

Editing, and putting a publication together is definitely something that I would look to do in the future, and the project had underlined the value of good honest teamwork, and just how important that is to being successful.

Editorial Contribution

Editorial contribution

As part of the process for putting the publication together, the content that was produced needed to be edited for grammar and other issues that may be relevant. We had at first discussed designating roles within the first weeks, of which I had volunteered to edit work.  After a period of time, we said that we should all upload the work via basecamp and give feedback and critique each other’s work before we would edit the content. No-one seemed to do this, so I instead looked at peoples work, and edited the minor details such as grammar, punctuation, and spelling mistakes. I also restructured some sentences, and rephrased some parts to go with this.

Editing the work was something I enjoyed as it also helped me to find errors in my own work, and it also helped with creating more of a house style, which was something that we had never discussed. Some people in terms of submitting the work for it to be edited didn’t do the submissions, or I was asked to find it on their blogs. This was very frustrating, as it was not helpful to the group that people didn’t submit work to basecamp so that we could edit, and know exactly how much content we had, and how big it was. We had decided that uploading work as a document rather than typing it or copying into basecamp was also a better solution, although again, some of the group did not do this.

When editing the work, this was the aspect that became difficult, and I found myself taking more time and effort to try and get hold of work so that it could be edited. This was supposed to be done as a group, but I was the only one to take work and edit the content.

 

 

The work that was done was all interesting to read, as to edit. I could see where certain pieces would go in the publication and also, how they needed to be improved.

I also attached these files back on basecamp to give to the original writer, so that they could read through and see what they thought to the changes made. I gained some feedback from this from some members saying that it read much better and made more sense. These were pleasing for me, as I had taken a lot of time to go through and read everyone’s work, edit them, and give feedback, without trying to come across too critical. My own work needed editing too in parts, and this was why I had thought we could edit as a group, laying all sheets on a table and giving feedback.

I edited all of the content that I was asked to, and that was available for me to edit, although there were also many pieces that were not edited by me.

For the purposes of creating a publication that may have been distributed, I thought that it would have been good to have all looked at the work and contributed to creating a slick house styled publication that flowed and was to a high standard.

As part of choosing aspects of the publication, I also drew sketches, and found pictures that could be used in the publication as part of the front cover. I uploaded these to basecamp, of which the main designers then took and used to create the covers.

Overall, the editing process has seen me oversee a lot of the publication, from ideas, to pictures, designs, content, and liaising on pagination and features.

For the editing process I used a book for guidance called ‘Essential English for Journalists, Editors and Writers’ by Harold Evans. I found this very useful when trying to work out what words are better suited in situations, and also what phrases to avoid and use, as well as common grammar and punctuation errors. The editing that I did do I enjoyed doing, and this is also something that I would look at continuing to do to further my skills in the field.

Reflection on my work and content

Reflection on my work and content

As the work for the project was outlined, I designated roles to people, as well as giving them ideas to explore, as it became evident that there were no other decisions being made as a group. Going with the initial thought of working in the sections that interest us individually the most, I decided that I would like to work on the mainstream news, as well as a contribution to the sports section.

This meant that alongside another member of the group, we would come up with a main news story and other possible stories that would be worthy of the first few pages of a publication. As we discussed as a group, one of the main decisions we made as a group was that the publication would be something quirky, and have a more positive outlook on news and its features.

I decided on an initial idea of writing about the current economic status of Hull, and its effects on local people. The other member of the mainstream news came up with an idea that we could do a negative versus positive aspect, featuring the economic difficulties and possibilities facing the city.

As it became increasingly likely that this publication would be a ‘one off’, the content had to be something that had a long shelf life so that it could still be current when it would be published.

This was something that I tried to pursue in each piece that I did, and I also had helped make decisions on what to produce in the other sections too, so that it had the same look and feel to each section. The main idea I had behind this was to have written something that is current now, with a look to the New Year aspect to it, and also, a reflection on the previous month or something recent within the same sector as the story. For example, in the sports section, I advised that it would be good to have a timeline of the Hull City games, with a short review of each game, and where that left the team at the end of that month’s set of games, and also a written piece about the season so far or something along those lines.

As this was part of what the sports section could have, I wrote a piece reflecting on the season so far, and turn in events that have happened in the last few years, and a comparison of a previous season. I also looked to the New Year, as to give the piece a sense of longevity to the reader, as although some details may now be out of date, the context of the piece is still relevant to the way things are set at present.

As part of putting the publication together, I also made some editorial decisions, alongside other members of the group who chose to discuss this, on which sections should run in which order, what those sections were, and what content would go in them.

The names of the sections changed various times, to suit what content was being produced. As a result of this I wrote a piece that would be relevant to a few sections, on the diversity in Hull, and how the influx of foreign nationals is affecting the region. This was intended at first to be as part of a student section, but it also had a wider scope of perspective as so it could be placed in other sections too. The piece was an informative and journalistic piece that had statistics and figures, of which I would have liked to have visualised in some way. As the publication was print, there was no way of making this interesting in paper, with only the statistics that I had, without slightly changing the context of the piece. However if the publication was digital, this would have been something I would have looked at more.

As part of the sections, as it was a festive based publication due to the time of year, I suggested that it may be a good idea to have an entertainment and review section based upon what is good to do, or places to go in the Christmas period. As part of this, I wrote a review for a restaurant with a view to this being a ‘pick of the festive season’ as though it would have been the best out of various restaurants. I wrote this piece to give the review section some versatility, as it was strongly orientated with gaming and film reviews. I wanted to keep the piece to a maximum of 400 words, and review the restaurant in aspects of service, quality, ambience, and for meals and functions.

As the student section was looking quite thin, I also wrote another piece that was aimed at being placed in that section to give it a student feel. I wrote the piece based upon first-hand experience, but I tried to make the piece stand as something that could appeal to anyone who would read it. As we decided that the publication would be aimed at the 18-35 age brackets, all of the pieces were written to have a student feel, with an appeal to older and younger readers too. The students travel piece I did was enjoyable to write as it gave me an opportunity to write something based upon experience that I had, and turn it into a journalistic piece rather than an opinion piece. It did have elements of an advertisement within in it, as this was purposely done as it gave the piece more character, rather than just a reviewing, or informative piece.

The mainstream news section was difficult one to manage, as it was not clear how many pieces other people had done, and also, what type of pieces they had done. It was difficult to ascertain what type of piece would fit the publication, how long we could have the piece, how relevant it would be to what else was written. Throughout the content creation process, I had tried to give each section a strong journalistic piece that would be versatile and give the sections depth. It was very difficult to liaise on what pieces would be relevant and current for the main news section for these reasons. I had suggested about a few pieces, one being the Hull Studio School, as a termly report as it is a new feature to the city. This would have run as a second story. I also suggested doing a piece on student culture, or something that would be appealing to our age range. As the publication adapted into a less student orientated, and more of a festive publication aimed at the age range, for local people, I decided that it may be a good idea to do something on the economic status of Hull. We decided to do negative page, and a positive page, highlighting the issues and possibilities facing Hull. An idea we had was to do half of the page in black and white, and half in colour, to emphasise the negative and positive, with a single image as the background. Another idea that I had was to do a timeline of key significant economic dates that have occurred in Hull post World War Two, to highlight the highs and lows that have happened. This would also have made the piece more graphically and aesthetically pleasing.

The overall content creation was a difficult but enjoyable experience. I found some of the pieces were natural and flowed well with what I intended to create. Others were more difficult and had areas which I needed to work upon. All of the pieces took various amounts of research to gain the facts and figures, and gain a perspective and context to write each of the pieces. All of the pieces I wrote had elements of different journalism within them, as I wanted to test what I liked, and also improve what I would like to work on in the future such as sports writing, and travel pieces.

Writing the economic piece also allowed me to experiment with writing pieces of a more hard-line news edge. I liked this aspect, as it felt newsy, and is something that I would like to improve on a work on in the future.

Initial Ideas and Contribution

Initial ideas and contribution

At the beginning of the semester, the requirements for this module where outlined, and we were assigned to work as a group on a project for an external client. There were no specific details on how big the client had to be, or for what reason, only that there had to be a need or a market for our idea.

Within the first session, we had come up with the idea for a new publication for Hull, although nothing was set in stone, it looked as though this may be a good option to go with.

It was suggested that we may use Basecamp, of which I was glad of as it can help communicate ideas, and progress, on the project.

As the first few weeks past, there was not much contact or discussion happening on Basecamp within regards to any ideas or progress with any research, so I decided to move forwards with the initial idea of a new publication for Hull.

As we were required to present the idea and the progress, roles and responsibilities in the project, I'd decided to create Writeboard which is on Basecamp, as a way that we could manage and contribute as a group for the presentation. I did a template design for everyone to follow so that it was easy and was available to just edit and update with their own details and ideas.

The idea for the publication would have been that within the six of us in the group, we could all have a specific section that we would have been in charge of, and edit and create content. I outlined this idea within the first few weeks, so that we could work as a group on the aspects and sections that interest us the most individually, and then bring them together collectively as a group to edit and piece together.

The Writeboard was something that could and should have been used throughout the project to manage and update ideas, content, and a place where editing can be done too.

Throughout the project, only I and one other member of the group used the Writeboard, despite messages from myself indicating that this could be a good way to manage the work. There was also no other alternatives suggested or used, so this was the only option that had been created by myself to try and aid the group with their work in the initial stages.