Main Points from my Focus Group

Here are some photos from my focus group. All were within my demographic of 16-18 and there was a mixture of males and females but they were predominantly female which means that next time if I want more accurate results from both sides of my demographic then I will need to get a balance of males to females. In total there were eight people who attended the focus group.

Points raised about my front cover:

• Not understanding the different shade of red to the house style for 'Unplugged', after I explained that I was trying to imply a top secret or confidential stamp they understood but explained the I should make this more obvious by including the lines around it.
• Too busy cover lines which take up too much space on the left(third) but when I explained that it is meant to represent the genre they agreed yet still felt that this should be reduced.
• The cover lines colours fight with the motif on the artist's shirt which distracts away from the cover lines and makes them almost blend together.
• Enjoyed my main image with the two transparent leaning across but asked what was in her mouth therefore implicating that it isn't obvious to what my artist is biting as my group originally thought that it was a liquorish lace.
• The month and price detract from the headline and I should move it near the barcode. The £ sign is in a different font and looks unprofessional so should be changed to a totally different font.
• The focus group added that the cover lines were interesting but also felt that to persuade them more to buy the issue that there should be an opportunity to win on the cover to draw more people to become consumers.

Points raised about my contents page:

• It's very busy but then matches the front cover and follows the same style.
• Liked how all the features were matched with an image.
• Preferred the grey background to the white on the front cover and felt that these should remain the same.
• Liked how all the articles in the magazine were listed closely.
• They didn't like how the Poppy Scarlet logo had changed from having being filled with white to now outlined with white.
• The busker image was pixelated
• The titles weren't aligned right on the features.
•  Couldn't recognise the CD's behind the 'Can we have some more CD's please?'

Points raised about my double page spread:

• Very different in style due to the artist now having pink hair. There is no continuity.
• Like the main caption and how they expect the last word to be an expletive but actually isn't.
• Dislikes the amount of text and feels that there could be more fitted in.
• Likes how spaced out and simple it is yet still linking back in style and organised chaos in the contents page and front cover.
• Likes the shade of pink and how it isn't girly and creates a more of a rebel independent female tone which is extremely motivational and inspiring. When I asked the males of the focus group whether they were put off with the pink they said no if it was based around that shade.

When talking about the sense of dramatic change I explained that I would go with either one or another and then asked which one to go for. The majority explained that they preferred the pink as it was more unique, individual and daring as the majority of magazines go with red as it pleases most genders, they said they expected pink to be used in women's magazines yet it works well within this genre. They also said that the pink hair was a 'statement' and portraying the individuality and 'loudness' of the artist so therefore I should use more of the images with my artist having pink hair to brown.