EXAM QUESTION 8

The Observer is a newspaper company who is partnered with the Guadian newspaper company. They have a website format of their newspaper counterparts which houses hundreds of stories that cover a large range of categories, all with titles that entice the reader to read on. The deep blue colours provoke an underlying feeling of seriousness and formality that shows that the news articles are going to be quite formal and serious, not exciting and about celebrities, but most likely more about crime, politics, immigration and, if really important, external affairs (what's going on in other countries). The layout of the different articles in the different categories put the most important first, making them the biggest there, and in the sports section, the top stories have pictures whereas the others don't. The layout of the articles shows which are more important or interesting, or it might just be the newest one.

The first category you will encounter is the 'features' section. These are the top stories that most people want to learn/hear about. It mainly focuses on what the popular news is at that moment in time. It ranges from crime (in this case, rape) to immigration (refugees) to things about films and celebrities. These articles may entice the reader to investigate further as some have a quote, a small description or just a title. Case in point: 'Can I forgive the man who raped me?' is a good title as it captivates the reader whilst not giving them the full picture straight away. It creates questions that the reader will want to answer, and the way of doing that is to click on the article. Take note that the article is an example of only having a title with no quote or description (however, it could be debated that the title is a quote because it's written in the first person). Another story is that the musicians 'Sleaford Mods' describes living in modern Britain. This is an example of an article with a description and quote. The quote exclaims 'There is lots of pain' which can be taken as a humorous remark, to give the reader a feeling of happiness. The article conveys a comedic message to the reader, making the reader feel good. The description explains what the article is about, providing an insight into what you're about to read as you wouldn't be able to understand what the article's about from just the vague phrase 'There is lots of pain'.

The font used is clean and clear, making it look professional and fresh. The font used for the title at the top of the page is in sans-serif as it has flattened corners that don't thin out, making it look sleek and modern. All the other titles for the articles are in standard serif form, with the serif appearing at the end of each letter. This font is reminiscent of the font used in regular newspapers. It is also widely referred to as the 'Roman' font and/or 'Gothic'. The reason sans-serif has 'sans' in front of it is because it means 'without' in French. The reason they chose the fonts was because they wanted to make it look professional and clean, whilst being reminiscent of the newspapers.