Holding My Focus GroupTheresa Kuhn

After creating my drafts for all three pages of my magazine and acting upon small bits of feedback, it was time to hold a focus group with the target audience of my magazine. I had created my magazine pages to the best of my ability, and worked off audience research to suite and attract my aimed audience. Yet now it was time to get feedback straight from my audience on what they liked and what they could improve on. Using Facebook as a way to attract my target audience, I created an event and chose a location for it to take place in so I could have a wide selection of people that would give me more valid results.

When holding my focus group, questions I planned to ask were:Front Cover:

Is it very eye catching? Would you pick this up on a shelf Do you like the masthead/is the mast head appropriate could it be improved- specify improvements Is the house design colour scheme appropriate- do the colours work with the image?Are the cover lines positioned clearly and visible to read- could they be improved in any way?Are the fonts used practical for the front cover? Is there enough variation that doesnt make it look too complicated? Is the size of the main cover line practical?Image- do you like the image- does it work with the front cover- does it look professional? What does the image say to you? Can you tell it relates to the main cover lineIs the barcode in the right place? Is the pricing visible as well as the date and issue numberIs the price acceptable as something you would pay?Overall opinion do you think this looks like an indie music magazine- including image, colours, fonts, articles etcWhat generally do you think could be improved on- general or specific including image, colour, fonts, articles, design/arrangement?

Contents page

What do you like about the contents page?Is it laid out clearly?Is the font an appropriate size? Could this be improved to make it easier to read?Does the selection of fonts make it more interesting to look at?Do you like the colour scheme? Does it work with the image and relate to the colours on the contents page?Do you like the images chosen? Do they relate to the genre of the magazine?Are the articles interesting and relating to the genre of the magazine?Does it look like a professional contents page? Could it be improved in any way?

Double page spread

What do you like about the double page spread?Do you like the band logo? Does it look creative and reflect the personality of the singer?Is the image a strong image? How does it represent the artist to you?Does the colouring of the page relate to the artist, as well as keep in with a house design of the magazine?Is the text easy to read in white? Is the pull quote visible and relevant?Is there a visible house design throughout all three pages?

I then held the focus group. I asked all the previous questions with anA3 print of each page so they could each pass it round and see it properly. This way they could study it in depth, talking about what they liked and what could be improved on.

I listened to their discussion of each page, writing down specific comments about the improvement of it to make it adress my target audience and fit the genre. I also gave them an A3 piece of paper to write down any other thoughts and comments along the way which gave me a lot to work on. From this I drew up flat plans of each of my pages, with the comments of each of the pages in the associating area. This way when working back on them in Photoshop I could quickly address the area that needed to be changed.

Front Cover

Contents Page

Double Page Spread

From my feedback I then went back to my different pages to readjust parts to make it more preferable and suitable to my target audience. This focus group was the first proper feedback collecting event I had ever done before, and this gave me the preference to do this in the future as it was very helpful to discuss with my audience why they think it should be changed.