The document summarizes the findings from a focus group conducted to inform the design of a regional magazine. Key findings included: - Participants preferred a balance of images and text in articles. - They responded more positively to a house style that seemed traditional and contemporary rather than targeting younger audiences. - Layouts that were simple, clear and avoided being too busy were preferred for things like covers and contents pages. - The focus group helped identify a preferred magazine name of "Inside" over other options.

1. Focus Group
WHAT I FOUND WITH MY RESEARCH…

2. I decided to carry out a primary source of research to enhance my codes and conventions
research that I have previously done in order to plan and design successfully my final
regional magazine. This allowed me to see first hand what people would expect and look
for in a magazine so I amble to apply this to my magazine. To allow this to be an accurate
representation of the audience I have targeted my own regional magazine at I choose
people of both genders who were middle aged. Here are some examples of the questions I
asked…
This is my first message to
the focus group explain in
the purpose of it and if they
would be willing to
participate to which they all
said yes.

3. This is an example of one
of the questions I asked
my focus group about the
genre and appearance of
the magazine. This allowed
me to understand that to
possible consumers it is
important that the
magazine is attractive as
well as having the correct
genre to suit their interest.
I also asked the focus group
whether they would prefer a
higher ratio of text or image to
which they said they would
prefer an equal amount so
which I will as a result apply
this to my own final product as
much as possible.
Focus group examples

4. House style comparison
I asked my focus group to compare these to m magazine examples and see which
house style they preferred based on their own taste. 70% of them said they would
prefer the Kent Life house style as it sets a more traditional and contemporary look
to the magazine and they can tell from this that the magazine would be direct at
their sector of potential readers. The Sunset magazine house style although they
liked it they agreed that it doesn't give the right impression in order for it to be
targeted at my specific section of target audience and rather suits a younger
audience.

5. Layout comparison
When I showed my focus group the examples below I asked them to compare the
layout of the front covers of the magazine , they all came to a conclusion that they
each preferred the Dorset magazine as this one was simple and clear and
presented the information well while the Cumbria life magazine was seen as to
busy and informal and did not appeal to the interests of any members of the focus
group.

6. Contents page comparison
When I showed my focus group both these contents page decided 40% of them agreed
that the Absolute magazine was overall a better design for a contents page as it was sharp
and clearly laid out and they liked the editors column on the left hand side. The remaining
60% preferred the Essex Life contents page as they liked the traditional font style used
and the collage layout with the images clearly demonstrated the contents of the
magazine, while the layout allows to easy for readers to navigate.

7. Layout plan of contents page comparison
I also showed the focus groups these to layout plans for my
own contents page , the majority of the focus group as
demonstrated by the pie chart on the right preferred the first
option design. Most of them suggested that this was the best
one as they liked the high amount of images used to create
visual references and links to the ages whereas the other design
only provided one image.
First option Second option

8. Advert page comparison
When comparing these two adverts the focus group liked separate aspects of each advert page ,
the one positioned on the left they preferred the high key lighting of the whole age and
appreciated the idea that the image took up the whole page. They also liked the simplicity of the
layout. With the Bentons Kitchens advert they did not like the black background as they felt it was
too harsh but liked how the information was displayed at the bottom of the advert , and the
contrast between the white font and background went will and allowed the information to stand
out.

9. Magazine name
I then asked my focus group as to which of these
names would they think best suits my magazine for
the intended audience…
Demonstrated by the chart the majority of my focus
group voted for the name ‘Inside’ , therefore I have
decided as this group represent my target audience
to choose this as my brand name for my regional
magazine.
Magazine names
Inside Inside Now About Your Town