I decided to produce the supplement on my own, I decided that the topic I had chosen would be Racism in the Fashion Industry and would be most suitable for a Tabloid newspaper as although my approach to the topic would be of a serious nature the actual topic itself focused on predominately Tabloid based topics . I began researching to find out what aspects of the typical Tabloid supplement were essential to make sure that my final piece was appropriate for the audience which I intended to target it at.
A Sunday Supplement similar to what I was aiming (Sunday News of the World) was analysed to see what type of articles were of interest to the audience and what its main focus was. I found that the contents of the supplement were aimed at women between the ages of 20 and 50 fitting into socio-economic group E, most being housewives. The majority of the supplement was based on women’s issues like, fashion, cookery, health and articles about women and real life issues. I decided that my topic would be based around fashion and on the serious side of the topic I would raise awareness about racism in the fashion industry.
I studied both Tabloid supplements and Broadsheet supplements to assist me when constructing my articles and give me deeper understanding of what sort of language would be suitable for this socio-economic group and audience. As the supplement is taken from a tabloid newspaper the written style had to be taken into account. Looking at examples it was clear to me that to reach the needs of my audience the articles had to be easy Sunday reading, enjoyable, informative yet serious and put across the point which I intend to bring forth to my readers. Tabloids in general take the show business and celebrity stories rather than the hardcore political, share stories and angles which broadsheets produce. Therefore the topic was suitable for my supplement as it deals with the views and stories celebrity models encountered and their opinions about racism in fashion.
Photographs used in the articles also had to be suitable for the target audience. The pictures had to be eye catching and aesthetically pleasing for the reader. The front cover has to be vivid and look attractive, using photo’s and bright colours I would lure the reader into wanting to read more about racism in fashion. The way in which I position my main photos will also be important, and they should complement my main titles and relate to the issues which I arise within the article. My main article will deal with Racism in Fashion and my mini one page spread article will deal with fashion available for readers in winter 2002.
I will try different ideas and think about the layout of both my front page and the articles. I sketched a few ideas and tried them out on the Microsoft Home Publishing Package that I intend to use to create my supplement. The package is a useful one to use and I am able to scan pictures of my own in and also change pictures to make them suitable for my needs, and also create an array of different text types and sizes.
Racism in the fashion world and modelling profession in particular is not an issue that immediately comes to mind when the word racism is raised. Yet it is an issue that is very much alive in the society of today. I intend to produce a questionnaire to see just how aware people are of this issue and to back up my own research on the matter.
