Factual Page Layout Project:Product Research

Bekki Asquith

Clarity – The instruction manual is clear and easy to understand. There are headings and steps in the following that tell you how to do thing such as replace the batteries and how to avoid battery leakage.

Instruction Manual for ‘Musical Crib Puppy’

Accuracy – The steps to avoid battery leakage and the replace batteries seem accurate. They would have to be accurately presented in order to prevent any danger to do with the batteries.

Ambiguity– There seems to be some kind of ambiguity with the ‘Caution’ text on the front page. The line that reads ‘the crib sides should be in one of the lower positions.’ This is vague and does not explain the need for caution very well.

Bias – There is no sense of bias being used in this instruction manual because there is no need for it.

Register – The language used in this instruction manual is formal and uses imperatives because the text itself needs to be commanding, they are instructions.

Codes of practice – The small print at the bottom of the page on the right talks about the FCC and says that this product is approved by this organisation. The FCC tests products like this one in order to see whether they will be at risk of harming the child. It has been approved so this must mean that it is safe.

This shows the parents of the child that it has been tested and they have nothing to worry about when they give it to their child.

Supporting illustrations and diagrams – There is a diagram image that accompanies the text entitled ‘To replace batteries’. This is something that could prove confusing and because of the vague instructions this will help the reader.

Typography – This whole instruction manual is in black and white text, there are no other colours used. There are 3 different fonts used for different aspects of the leaflet. There is also bold and upper case type used for different aspects as well. The font choice is clear, simple and is easy to read for the audience.

Conciseness – Few words are used in the steps in the two ‘how to’ paragraphs.

Effective Communication – In general, this publication communicates the vital information to the reader that could otherwise cause confusion and possibly danger. The text is effectively communicated by using clear fonts, diagrams and bold and upper case letters for important headings and words.

‘What’s Wrong With McDonald’s?’ Leaflet

• Typography – There are different fonts used here for the heading and the main body of text and then also the feature at the bottom left of the second page. The headings of the text are in bold. The font choice for the main text is easy to read and simple so that the leaflet focuses on the content rather than what the leaflet looks like. This is the case with most factual writing pages. The font that is used for the main heading is also clear and easily readable.

• Clarity – When read, it is quite clear what this leaflet is talking about. It is telling the reader about how bad McDonald’s is, as a company. It tells a one sided story about all of the bad things about the company. It is clear what the opinion of the writer is as soon as you read the first paragraph.

• Accuracy – This leaflet contains some statistics such as ‘Every year McDonald’s uses over a million tons of unnecessary plastic and paper packaging’. This is not very accurate; it would be better if an actual, accurate figure or number was used. This is also ambiguous and so this factual publication does not avoid ambiguity.

• Bias – The text in this leaflet is only one side of a story. This shows bias. The two activists who wrote the original leaflet, Helen Steel and Dave Morris are from London Greenpeace and so it is very clear what their opinion and their side of the story will be. After this leaflet was published and people from McDonald’s had read what these two activists had written about them and after the legal court case, the leaflet was forced to retract some of the things that it has said and accused. Because the inaccurate and vague figures that they used such as as ‘Every year McDonald’s uses over a million tons of unnecessary plastic and paper packaging’, they were removed for legal reasons.

• Register – The text in this leaflet is written formally, however there are some contractions used such as ‘they’re’. They have used a wide vocabulary and punctuation to try and engage the reader and keep them interested in the issue that the publication is about.

• Evidence of an argument – The evidence of argument is shown by the original article showing one side of the story, saying how bad McDonald’s is, the other side of the story/argument is shown by the writing around the outside which talks about when McDonald’s read this article and fought back against it to try and protect their name.

• Legal constraints – The writing around the outline of this leaflet talks about how McDonald’s sued the people who wrote this for libel. This meant that they had written about something that was untrue and McDonald’s were able to sue them for this because what they wrote made them look bad as a company. Also, this could have stopped people from using their service and their products and this could in turn put them out of business.

• Supporting images – There is an image at the side of the main heading which shows a Ronald McDonald mask, a popular character who is associated with the McDonald’s food company. There is a fat man holding the mask in front of his face and smiling, this implies that something is hidden behind the fun exterior of McDonald’s and all is not what it seems.

Factual Journalism (Newspaper article) - ‘A World of Beauty’

Clarity – This article is easy to understand because the subject is explained to the reader in the text. The font is clear to read and the story is easy to decipher.

Conciseness – This article is concise. It tells the story and gets the point across in few words. A shorter story is more appealing to the reader than a long winded one that goes on and on.

Register – This piece is written quite formally. There are no informal contractions except in quotes from people.

Referencing sources of information – In this piece, there are quotes from several people. There are multiple quotes from Emily May McEwan herself, who is the subject of the article, and there is also a quote from Marci Hinkle, her best friend.

There are also references to different colleges and different pieces of artwork by McEwan throughout the article. Typography – The font that the heading is written in is eye catching and interesting. It fits well with what the article is actually talking about: art. It is very artistic and so goes well with and applies to the story. The rest of the article is written in a lower case, clear and simple font that is easily readable. This is so that the attention of the reader can stay focused on the story rather than anything else such as the nice font that it is written in.

Supporting Images and Diagrams – There are 3 images included in this article. They are used to explain what the text says further and make some of the things that are written about a bit clearer. They are called ‘supporting’ images because they support the text and show what it is talking about. There are also captions in amongst the images to describe further what is actually being shown and explained in the images and the text.

‘How To’ Guide – Musgo Graffiti

Clarity – The steps that are shown here on this ‘how to` guide are very clear and it makes the process of creating Musgo graffiti very quick and easy to do. This is a good quality of a ‘how to` guide because then people will think it is easy to do and so attempt it.

Conciseness – The sentences that are used for the steps for this guide are very short and use few words to describe the step by step actions. For example “Add buttermilk”, “Pulse blender until gel forms” are all short, sharp commands which tell you what to do.

Accuracy – The instructions that this guide give are accurate and correct. This is the way for a ‘how to` guide to be. If you follow the guide by the steps, then you will end up with Musgo graffiti that will grow.

Avoiding Ambiguity – There is no ambiguity in this guide. There are accurate measurements given of how much of something to add into the mixture that is made.

Register – There are a lot of commands and imperative verbs used here because using these words ensure that the guide is clear and concise which is how it should be.

Supporting Illustrations and Diagrams – There is an illustration above each instructions, pictures at the top of the page to show what you need to make this graffiti, and a photograph at the end to show what it should look like. These are appealing to the audience because an all text publication is boring and images help to show what it is you should be doing; they are an important feature of a ‘how to` guide. There is a clear use of colour here which makes the whole publication look more interesting for reader.

Typography – There is a clear font that is used in the top left of the page for the heading and the show what this ‘how to` guide is for. The other font that is used is for the instructions. This is clear and easy to read but very small in comparison to the images that are above. They use a simple font however it becomes harder to read when it is made smaller.

Information Guide ‘Editors’ Code of Practice’

• Clarity – The different sections and points are clearly indicated by the coloured headings and separation within the sections into smaller and more easily readable parts. This makes it clear to the reader which parts they should be reading in reference to what information they want to find out about.

• Conciseness – The paragraphs that are separated into sections are written using few words and only include information that is relevant and important to what the text is talking about. This makes it a clear and concise piece of writing.

• Avoiding Ambiguity – There is no ambiguity in this piece of factual writing, it is simply supplying you with information, there is no room for any ambiguity. The writing is about a code of practice which must be followed in reference to the newspaper and periodical industry; they are rules which must be obeyed in this industry.

• Bias – This factual text can be interpreted in different ways by different people, for example the general public will interpret and see the tone of this text much different to maybe how the editor of a newspaper or magazine would see it. To some people, some of the points may seem bias and in favour of another group of people. For example, point i) under the heading Accuracy states that ‘The press must take care not to publish inaccurate, misleading or distorted information, including pictures.’ A newspaper/magazine editor or journalist may interpret this in a way that means that they in fact cannot publish any type of article with an opinion because what is seen as misleading will differ between different people, their past experiences and beliefs.

• This point shows slight bias against publishers and editors because it could leave them little room to produce work of any kind.

• Register – This piece of text is written very formally because it is official ruling for the newspaper and periodical industry. There are words like ‘must’ and talks about ‘obligations’ which reinforces and tells us that these are a set of rules that must be followed. There is no room for any kind of argument or another side to the story.

• Referencing Sources of Information – There is no need for this publication to reference a source of information because it, itself is a source of information. This code can be referenced to when writing a journalistic article for a newspaper or magazine.

• Legal Constraints – Point number 15 talks about criminal trials and mentions the Contempt of Court Act 1981 and pleas to court. This is in reference to what can be put into a newspaper or another periodical product with regards to what goes on in court.

• Codes of Practice – This piece of writing itself is about the Editors’ Code of Practice so it is therefore already mentioned. There is also a reference to the PCC (Press Complaints Commission).

• Typography – There is another colour used here which brightens up the page and tries to make it seem more appealing to the reader’s eye. The font for the main text that is used is clear and easy to read and coloured black for the contrast between black and white on the page. The involvement of another colour into this page layout means that it breaks up the large amount of writing that is on the page so that it is easier for the reader and makes it slightly more interesting for them to read.

• Some of the writing which explains the code and how it should be and is used in the industry is in bigger writing than the regulation rules that are listed below. This means that the reader will be more attracted to this part first and foremost. This section will then interest them and they will then read on. This technique performs the same job as a heading in that the lager writing draws people in and interests them in the subject of the text.

Online Daily Mail Article ‘Flaunting side-cleavage … it’s a right Ellie earned the hard way’

• Clarity – Liz Jones, who wrote this article talks about Ellie Goulding and also referencing Lady Gaga, differs between fact and her own opinions which is confusing at times. For example, Jones talks about how Goulding and Gaga are flaunting their bodies in order to gain fame but then goes on to later say that they are both intelligent and talented in what they do.

• This makes it unclear what her view is and what the purpose of this article actually was.

• Conciseness – This article is not concise, Jones has written her views and added in comments wherever she can. She has not set out to write an article to tell the reader something and made that her focus, that is clear.

• Accuracy – The facts that she uses and adds into her article are all accurate e.g. Ellie Goulding did appear on The X Factor in the dress in the photograph and Lady Gaga did dress in cuts of meat to sell her records. There are no exact dates, times or quotes included in this article which makes the reader question the accuracy of some of the things that Jones mentions, especially when this is such a one sided and opinionated piece of factual writing.

• Avoiding Ambiguity – There is only ambiguity in this piece when trying to decipher what it is that Jones really wants to say. The heading ‘Flaunting side-cleavage…it’s a right Ellie earned the hard way’ makes us believe that this piece will praise Goulding through and through, where in fact she has talked about she feels that she now HAS to take her clothes off in order to remain on the top spot.

• Supporting Images and Diagrams – The photograph that is included at the beginning or the article shows Ellie Goulding on The X Factor, wearing the dress that Liz Jones talks about in the following text. This image supports the writing and ensures that the reader knows what is being discussed.

• Bias – This is a one sided piece because it is from the opinion and the view or controversial journalist Liz Jones who is known well for writing things about people that challenge the view of the general public and some other people’s views as well. She gives her brutal opinion on several occasions in this piece of writing.

• Register – This article is written in an informal way. Jones uses contractions, mentions anecdotes and involves herself in the writing e.g. ‘Gaga – in a bikini with that perfect bod for sin, to paraphrase Melanie Griffith – has been seen as a betrayal as much as Ellie’s side cleavage-exposing dress, or Madonna’s facelift, or mine, for that matter.’

• Referencing Sources of Information – There is no direct referencing to any sources of information, only vague half-references to shows like The X Factor and a time when Goulding appeared on it.

• Codes of Practice – There is only a vague reference to a code of practice; Jones mentions towards the end of the article that she feels that instances such as the one where Ellie Goulding wore this dress on The X Factor should be shown after the 9pm watershed.

• Typography – The heading of this article is in very big lettering and bold print. The font is clear and easily readable and plain which makes it easy for the audience to read and interpret. The text is paragraphed well and frequently which makes it even easier for the reader.