Focus Group feedback

Pulse Magazine Cover, DPS and Contents Page feedback

The feedback I received from the focus group was mainly aimed at the contents page, as the cover page, they felt, carried across the house style well, featured relevant titles, quotes and coverlines, and had no issues with visibility of text or information. The only criticism was the colour of the coverlines, which they suggested could be trialed with blue to match the model's hair, or the murky golden texture on my text could be removed. They liked the use of colour, as well as the small features contributing to the tone of the magazine, such as the texture within the title, and the red guitar my model is holding.


The Contents page was looking a little spacious in places, and didn't feature the social media buttons necessary for my target audience. Furthermore, I have the space to include more coverlines, or, as suggested, create some quotes or information below each coverline for extra interest. I agree with these ideas, as the contents page does look bare and spacious, and I plan to incorporate these into it. I was also told again that I could include the hair colour of the model within the text to carry across some association between them, though I'm not sure of this yet, as it could lead to too many colours being used and disruption of the house style I hope to maintain. The group liked the border of chains I crafted, as well as the chain shown in the corner, as it adds to the theme, as well as the patterns and textures used in both the text, image around the model, and the actual black and grey background behind it all.

The group also thought that the double page spread was a little too conventional, as they noticed that I had challenged a few stereotypes but left it completely stereotypical on this page, and hadn't placed many story related features and elements to the DPS. I was also told, to which I agree, that my double page spread's main image (my model) was unfitting to the magazine, being ill-lighted, unclear and generally unfitting to the first page of the DPS. They did however like the use of the chains as borders, something that I have previously incorporated (thus making it an element of the house style), as well as the space for related articles or elements of the story.