Focus Group- Qualitative Data

For this task, I asked 6 females, who fit within the age boundaries of my target audience (15-18), and who had an interest within the pop genre; what they would like in a pop magazine. I then summarised there results to see what would be best suited for my target audience in the magazine. The 6 girls I asked were all pop fans with a similar interest to me for a music magazine Georgie Lloyd Fenella Wood Miriam Prever Elizabeth Stone Eleanor Hargrave Hannah Smith I asked them 12 questions (see below) and wrote down their main responses. Summary of Results Section 1- THE FRONT COVER (QUESTIONS 1-4) 1) What images would you like? There should be a few images on the front cover. The main image should be of an inspirational, famous female artist or a young attractive male artist. Either one of these images, appeal to the audience. The image should be direct and smiling as this creates a positive atmosphere for the readers. The smaller images should be relative to the intrests of the readers and link in with the coverlines, e.g. fashion related. 2) What would like to see on the front cover e.g. sell lines? For a pop magazine, there should sell lines which would interest the target audience, such as famous pop stars both attractive males and strong females to reach out to female audience. Also interviews, charts, fashion and beauty stories to show the magazine has more to offer. 3) What colours would be appropriate? The colours of the magazine should be very bright and colourful, as the pop music is very vibrant itself, and colour are used to reflect tone of the music and the artist. So colours such as pinks, yellows etc which creates a bubbly and happy atmosphere for the readers. 4) What type of language would you expect? The language on the front cover should be chatty and informal as this creates a comfortable and inviting atmosphere for the readers as they immediately feel at ease with the magazine. The language should include terminology females of 15-18 year olds tend to use as it makes the magazine feel current and very direct with the target audience.

Section 2 THE CONTENTS PAGE (QUESTIONS 5-8) 5) What type of images would you like and how many? There should be more then one image in a contents page, because usually the images show whats going to be in the magazine. There is normally one main, dominant image of the person on the front cover and then a few smaller images. This follows the conventions of a contents page. The images should relate to the main coverlines such as an interview or fashion/chart related. 6) What would you want to be contained within the magazine? The magazine should offer a wide range of things, most of which relating pop music which shows it focuses the relative topic, to keep the audience interest. This includes charts, top 10 chart countdowns and upcoming gigs. Other content such as fashion trends, interviews and latest gossip, should also be contained in the magazine as these subjects are also key intrests to the target audience. These should be categorised and clearly numbered to be able to find. 7) How much images and text would you expect? On a contents page the text should just be mainly on the features and also an editors note, however there should a variety of images to keep readers interested and to show them what else will be included in the magazine. This is to ensure the readers are still visually attracted and interested in the magazine. 8) What type of language? The language should correspond to the genre, using terms such as interview with the hottest new boy band, it should more informal rather then formal, due to the target audience. The language should contain lots of information for the readers but in a funny and chatty manner in order to entertain them and keep them engaged. Section 3- THE DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD ARTICLE (QUESTIONS 9-12) 9) What choice of images would you want? The images should reflect the artists persona, as the pop genre shows artist to be smiling, having fun and dressed in a fashionable manner. If the image is of girl they should be portrayed quite powerful which makes the readers aspire to be like her, but also fun/smiling to show there personality. If the image is of a male, then it should be quite seductive but also very fun. This is to ensure the image attracts the readers. A range of different shot types should be used, to show there face but also there body. 10) What would you prefer the article to be about? The most popular answer is that the article would be an interview with a rising star, as it gives fans an insight about a person and there musical background. The interview could be a new pop artist or band, and that way readers will be able to how artists make it into fame and aspire to be like them in the future. Also they would like to know a bit about the artists life and ensure their personality reflects in the interview.

11) How would you expect the language to be? The language reflects the artist that is being mentioned, if it is an interview, the language tends to be more informal as its speech. Also by the language it should link into the pop language due to the use of terms used. The language should also be direct and allow for readers to follow it easily by understanding it. The language should also be funny to keep the readers entertained and still engaged. 12) Would you prefer more image or text based articles? The double page should be balanced between images and text; however it shouldnt have too much text, as it will bore the reader. The images need to be fun and exciting and usually there are 1-3 images used, with the main image covering one entire page. Also there shouldnt be too much text and should be straight to the point and easy for the audience to understand.