Looking at 2 pages of newspaper

In order to create my own two pages of a newspaper I wanted to research existing products to see what features in these pages. I wanted to get impressions of layout, colour use and the types of article used in this place. For this I have looked at The Epigram and Varsity, establishing continuity from my other research tasks. 

This is The Epigram, which can also be seen by the use of blue, a colour seen on the front cover of the newspaper. We can see the name Epigram has been placed at the top left hand side of the left page, along with the date on the right. By looking at other newspapers I found this was quite a frequent pattern. Featured on this page are the contents, some adverts, session meeting times and the editorial team. I particularly liked the layout of the contents, with the use of colour, aspects I hope to reflect in my own newspaper. The contents has been colour coded, so readers flicking through can identify the pages they want through stopping at this colour. The section meeting times and editorial team are both in the same size, colour and font, with a blue heading for each. This aspect of the newspaper may not be read by many but is important to include. A advert for what is featured later in the newspaper stands out on the page, another incentive for readers. This page also provides contact details for anyone wanting to get in touch. 

The facing page focuses on news, seen by the heading and colour coding. There are 3 articles featured on this page, with one taking up the majority of the page with both text and picture. This article also has the biggest headline showing its importance. The other two articles are at the right side and bottom of the page, so the eye automatically goes to read the middle one first.

These are the first two pages of Varsity newspaper. Unlike Epigram, Varsity straight away begins with the news content. Thumbnails of pictures are used to break up a lot of text used. The initial page contains one main article and 3 smaller ones. The first layout splits the page into thirds. There is a smaller section at the top of the page which promotes the website. At the bottom of the page the editors and session times are mention, in a much smaller font. Varsity has made this section much less appealing than Epigram has. The second page contains 3 main news articles, with 3 pictures. The page has no bold colours, and I feel does lack visual appeal. There is an offer featured on the bottom right hand of the screen, another aspect the student audience will be attracted to. Similar to the Epigram, each page is headed by the date and the purpose of that page.