Focus group

For my focus group I got together a group of 11-15 year olds who were prepared to give their views on my magazine. By completing a focus group I am able to get more detailed opinions of my magazine on the positives and negatives. When asking for the good points I asked why they are good points and why it appeals t them. With regards to the things that could be improved I asked why they think there is a need for them to be improved and how.

Good points

-     The magazine appeal to me. The main thing that stands out on the front cover is the colour scheme. The bright colours and the white background make it noticeable and it catches my eye.

-     Reading the contents page of the magazine it seems like the content of the magazine would appeal to me. The ‘exclusive interviews’ and the competitions are something I look for in a magazine and something I like reading.

-     The article is written is like the person is really speaking it. It gives you a good insight into ‘Lily-Emma’s’ life. It is the sort of way me and my friends talk and you can imagine Lily-Emma speaking like it.

-     Because of the names on the front cover and the name of the magazine it is clear that it is a music magazine and not just a general magazine for teenagers with lots of features in it.

-     It gives a relaxed feeling to the audience. The style of writing is very laid back, like the sort of way me and my friends talk.

-     The contents page is clear and has a readable layout. All the different sections within the magazine are clearly labelled.

Things to improve

-    The magazine doesn’t really appeal to me as the colours are too girly. The content is mainly focused around girls and it is not the sort of thing that I would buy. To make it more appealing to me I would add some more neutral colours, which would make it appeal to both girls and boys.

-     There is a lot of white space on the cover. Most magazines I read have a background colour or more space used and a lot busier. There is also more than one picture on the cover.

-    There is only one image on the cover which keeps it quite plain and therefore makes it less appealing as it doesn’t stand out. To make it stand out more there should be more going on on the cover with regards to images, making it busier and brighter and more jumbled about.