Focus Group

1. Focus Group
My focus group consisted of 5 people, 4 females and 1
male, all within the target audience age range (16-20.)
I decided to have more females than males feedback
because the majority of my target audience are female. All
of the 5 people enjoy or listen to Indie music. 2 members
listen to Indie-Rock and the rest listen to various Indie
sub genres and artists.
I carried out my focus group a few weeks before I completed my final
construction of my magazine pages. Therefore if there was anything that
was mentioned that I felt needed to be change I had time to do so, and
make sure it looked alright. I gave my focus group 3 different front cover
designs to look at, to really give them a variety and hopefully one would
catch their eye or inspire them to a new idea.

2.
Overall it was good responses to my front cover designs. They all liked the strong bold masthead and
image, however there were some comments about things such as the cover lines and artists name. For
example Jacob felt that the barcode and price were too big and made the magazine look less
professional. Three out of the five people said that they felt the artists name looked off balance on the
page. Lauren felt that the dark colour of “Anastasia” was too dark and was not legible against the image.
Ellie thought that the blue was too bright and didn't fit in with the overall colour scheme and genre of the
magazine. However most of them liked the more muted pastel green shade, as they felt it was “softer and
not as dominating on the page”. Hannah said that she disliked the word “Take” being under the artists
name, as it looked “off balance because of the name being on a slant above it.” As a group they all came
to the conclusion that they much prefer the last front cover design because it was a lot less crowded and
felt that the third one matched the overall appearance I wanted for my magian cover, to be simple and
minimalistic. Although the group liked the masthead Jacob felt that it was slightly “too small and had too
much space from the edges of the page.”

3.
Ella then agreed and also decided that maybe the masthead would have looked better if it were a
brighter shade of purple to match the models lipstick. Ellie then said that actually the masthead may
look better behind the models head so it was not covering the image. as a group they decided that
actually that may then make the masthead “hard to read and not recognisable as too much of it
would be covered by the models head.” Overall they all liked the layout as they felt it was
“simple”,“effective” and “not too overcrowded.” They all really liked the image and said that it was
very “eye catching, because of the eye contact the model is making with the camera.” Hannah said it
made her feel as though she were “staring at the real person.” Ella said she liked the image because
“the model had a vey unusual look on her face which added an almost mystery to the artist herself
and also the magazine” Jacob then agreed and said that he though “a real artist was being shown
and that the artist had a lot of personality coming across in the image.”
Something there was a big discussion about was the cover lines, three people said that they thought
they were “very bold” and that “the white stood out again the picture.” However the other three
disagreed and said they found it “hard to read” because they were being “lost by the different colours
on the image.” On the other hand they all thought that the actual cover lines were “very engaging and
interesting” and made them “want to buy the magazine to read the stories.” Lauren mentioned that
she felt there needed to be one more small cover line at the bottom as “they are all too far apart and
another one could be added at the bottom”
Overall the group really liked the cover and said it “attracts them” and is “very professional
looking." They also said that they “would buy the magazine based on the cover.”

4.
Based on the groups feedback about the cover I changed a few things to make sure it
would be appealing to my target audience. I tweaked a few things such as the size of
the barcode and price that Jacob suggested, as he thought it looked tacky and made
the magazine not look as professional, which I completely agreed with. Therefore I
reduced the size of both and placed the price beside the barcode instead of above as I
felt it made it look at lot less crowded. I then changed the masthead slightly, firstly I
made it a lighter shade of purple to match the models lipstick, which is what ella
suggested as she felt the masthead was “too dark for the page.” Secondly I changed
the size of it, like Lauren suggested, she said that there was too “much room either
side of the title: and that it “didn't fill the space enough”, which I also agreed with and
therefore increased the size of the masthead to fill the top of the page, which I think
made the cover look at lot more professional.
As a group they decided they most
preferred the third front cover design
because of the colour and design of
the artists name on the page. I decided
to get rid of the word “TAKE” like
Hannah suggested, because it did look
off balance and over crowded and I felt
was unnecessary on the page.
Because they liked to more pastel
green shade for the artists name I
experimented using different pastel
shades however decided that the
peach worked the best, because it
linked in with the models hair colour. I
then carried the pastel peach shade
thought the contents page and double
page spread as I felt it added a nice
link between the three pages.

5. As for the content page they all really liked it.
They said it looked “very professional looking”
but also “very original”. They said that the layout
was “very unusual for a contents page” however
they really “liked the originality of using a whole
page image for the contents page.” They all said
that they “liked the carried on purple colour that
was used on the cover” for the masthead and
models lipstick, as they felt it helped to really link
all the pages together. Jacob and Ellie also
picked up on the added dark red/purple colour
and said that they really liked it as it went well
with the purple shade and looked good to
highlight the key points of articles.
Ella said she really liked the image because it is
almost as if the artist is looking down on the
articles, which she thought added an “interesting
touch.” She also liked the image because she
“Could really see what the model was wearing”,
which to her was “exciting and engaging.”
The only negative comments about the contents
page was that “there isn't very many articles”,
however at this point I was constructing another
contents page with more images and the
remaining articles. And also Hannah mentioned
that there was no page number.

6. As for the contents page its clear to see that I didn't actually change much. Just a few tweaks such as added a
page number, moving the articles further away from the edge of the page and changing the size of some of the
text, to make some parts stand out more; for example the artists names and dates etc. I kept the font the same as
they said it was “basic” but at the same time quite “unique”, “not boring but still legible.”
Overall I really like this page as I feel it meets to the minimal design I wanted to achieve for my magazine. I also
think it is different to a conventional contents page, in the fact that I did a double page contents, with one full
page image and another with smaller images and remaining articles.

7.
Overall the group thought
the layout was appropriate
and good for a double page
spread. They all liked that i
used a whole page image
and they felt it was very
gripping because of the
eye contact.
The only criticism about this page were the colours they all felt that the purple was too pale against the
white background. However they liked the use of the dark red/purple shade that was on the contents page.
However there was a disagreement about the artists name on the tree on the right hand page. When
designing I felt the bag was too plain, therefore I wanted to add another focal point. I first experimenting
by using the pull quote that is in the centre of the left hand page, I positioned that in the middle of the right
page across the model however I felt it was being washed out by the quite busy background and was also
too distracting and cluttered the page too much.

8. As you can see I didn't change much about my double page spread. The only main thing I changed was the
colours. Instead of the purple being used on the pull quote I changed it to the peach shade that I used on
the artists name on the front cover as I feel it linked in nicely with the peachy tones in the models hair. I
also decided to keep the “ANASTASIA” on the image, even though half the group disliked it, because I
personal think it adds a little interest and focus to the image but in a more subtle way.