Alix Kelly conducted a focus group on Facebook to get feedback on her media studies newspaper portfolio. Participants viewed pictures of the front cover and inside page and answered questions. They provided positive feedback, saying the masthead was bold and eye-catching in the primary optical area. They also felt the layout was conventional and professional like a real local newspaper. The articles followed typical crime genre conventions. Participants only suggested a minor improvement to make the inside pages the same width for consistency. Overall, the feedback showed the target audience would purchase the newspaper and that Alix successfully researched conventions to create an appealing product for her target demographic.

1. Alix Kelly
A2 Media Studies Advanced Portfolio Evaluation
Question 3 - What have you learned from your audience feedback?
For this question, I conducted a focus on the social networking site Facebook. I created a private
focus group, the participants were asked to comment on the group about my final product, they saw
two pictures, one of my front cover and one of my second page. This is how it will have looked.
They were asked to answer 7 questions:
1. How effective is the masthead?
2. How effective is the layout?
3. Are the stories/articles conventional?
4. What are the positives?
5. Can anything be improved?
6. Would you purchase this newspaper?
The participants have now commented on the group and given me some feedback on my final
product. Here is an example of what one of the participants replied. To summerise, the audience
have agreed that the masthead is bold, eye catching and looks effective on the front cover. They
also think that it stands out in the primary optical area. This is good because my aim was to make
the masthead look convetional and effective towards the audience.

2. Alix Kelly
In terms of the layout, I wanted my newspaper to look professional and sophistcaed towards the
audience whilst following a traditional and conventional local newpspaer. The target audience
belivevd that my layout was typically conventional, the positioning of the text is very professional. I
have also learnt from my audience feedback that the layout is clear and easy to understand as well
as being similar to the likes of the MEN which is one of the products that I research in my product
reaesrch. This tells me that my newspaper has been succesful because I research the MEN
newspaper and analysed the different convetions that it uses to attract the target audience.
The narrative of my articles and stories are supposed to be interesting conventional following the
genre of crime. This is usually viewed in a local newspaper magazine. The narrative was to follow the
likes of Todorovs 5 stages of equilibrium. Although, they would start with a disequilibrium to create
an enigma for the audience. The participants have told me that they found the articles interesting,
they also belived that it was conventional of a typical local newspaper. They were interested in that
articles being directed at a local audience and it could have an effect of them.
I asked the audience to give me some positive feedback and also some improvements. To start, the
audience generally did not believe that much improvement was needed because it already looked
very professional and sophisticated; they also said that they couldn’t think of anything to improve on
in general. However, on participant did say that I could maybe improve the newspaper by making
the body on the front cover and second page the same width to make it look more consistent.

3. Alix Kelly
In terms of the positives, there were quite a lot of the same comments; mainly this is aimed at the
layout of the newspaper. They liked the professionalism of the newspaper, making it look like a real
local paper that they have posted to their door or seen in a shop. The colour scheme that I have
also used has been successful; the red borders used have been eye catching to one of the
participants. This is successful because this was decided by the primary market research I conducted
at the start of the year. A few comments have also said that the images I have used are very strong
and are very conventional to a local newspaper. I have learnt that the images have helped the target
audience relate the articles and have also helped them establish on the area in which the article is
based on.
Finally, I asked my target audience if they would purchase this newspaper, all responses said yes.
This has made my newspaper very successful, this has taught me that my product research and
market research has been successful and I have adapted my research to my final product and
attracted my target audience. This has also helped me learn that I have successfully used the
different software’s such as Photoshop and devices such as the SLR camera to make my final product
look professional and sophisticated to my target audience.