1. Results On Focus Group
To develop my knowledge and understanding on Pop Magazines, I decided to conduct a focus group
with the target audience, young teenage girls. Though, the focus group kind of turned into an
interview as it ended up being only one girl in the focus group. However, I believed that it was better
than nothing and would help me when creating my three pieces. I asked a variety of different
questions involving the three pieces. I used two existing pop music magazine, ‘We Love Pop’ and
‘Top of the Pops’.
As a whole, I believe that the focus group succeeded at I found out more information on what pop
fans like on a front cover, contents page and double page spread.
I firstly introduced the focus group by stating what my name is, why I am constructing this focus
group, and who they young girl is: Michaela, year 8 student at the Douay Martyrs School. I firstly
asked questions involving the young girl’s personality, like her favourite colour and what she likes to
do in her spare time. The girl replied ‘purple’ and she likes to read in her spare time. This shows that
the young girl is attracted to pop, as purple is a feminine, innocent colour, and she is likely to pick up
a magazine and read it in her spare time. I then asked her who her favourite artist/band is, to find
out more in depth information about her, and she answered ‘Little Mix’ and ‘Jessie J’. Both of the
artist/band is popular, stylish and well known which shows that the young girl most likely inspires to
be like them.
I then moved on to the questions about the three magazines. I showed her two existing pop
magazines, and asked if she liked them. She replied by saying she likes both of them are nice, though
she added that if both of the magazines had colour on the background instead of white, it would
stand out more. Furthermore, she said she likes the way they are set out. This made me realise that I
should try following the layout of the magazines, and pick out effective features, as this attracts the
target audience. After I asked this, I asked what she didn’t like about the magazines. She replied the
artists on the front and if she was to change anything on the front covers, she would change the
artist. This shows that the artist/band on the front cover has a big effect on whether it will attract
young girls in purchasing the magazine. I will be using this information when creating my front cover.
After these several questions were asked, I moved on to questions about both front covers. Like the
front cover, I asked the teenage girl what she liked about them... she said she likes the heading, and
pictures, and this will help when making my contents page. I then asked her what she would change,
and she said she would add headings to the ‘We Love Pop’ magazine and not scatter any photos of
the ‘Top Of The Pops’ magazine. Moreover, I then asked Michaela what she would change, and she
said she wouldn’t scatter photos and give the information a heading for each category.
I then moved on to questions about the double page spread which was with Jessie J and Little Mix.
The young girl said she would prefer to read the article on Little Mix, though the writing is a bit
small, but she likes this article as it is in categories which make it easier for her to read. I will be
taking into consideration when making my own double page spread, as I will use boxes when
providing information. This is because the target audience will not be put off by the information
given. I then asked what would make her want to read the article, and she replied saying the article
with the dominant image, as it catches her attention. The young girl said she would like to read
about what is going on with celebrities, which I will use when constructing my double page spread.