Focus Group

Today was the day of the pre-arranged focus group, where we could gain some feedback from a key demographic of late teenagers that we could carry on into our continual development. We showed them the three key products (as shown in previous blog post) and questioned them on their opinions on each and then finally the products as a collection, based on their stylistic continuity. We recorded the entire session so that we could document it, allowing me to summarise the key points in three separate sections. There are obvious paused points in this clip where the group have been offered time to review the products individually. We deliberately showed the group the Digipak and website first, as the video itself is normally the biggest indicator of the genre of an act and we wanted to determine whether the group could guess this without it.

DIGIPAK 

- All the people in the focus group raised their hand when questioned whether they liked the London Underground tube theme. They felt it was strong, visually identifiable and worked well with the Digipak, especially in the way the songs have been listed on the back cover.

- Someone mentioned that the biography was quite difficult to read due to the font used being quite faint in terms of its density. She suggested that this could be altered to make it more legible. 

- When questioned on the genre of the band based on what they could see from the Digipak, someone mentioned that they thought it was quite 'poppy'. However, this individual was immediately met  with disagreement with others strongly believing that it was closer to a rock band with a few mentioning the terms 'indie' and 'alternative' - just as we had hoped. 

- I then asked them if it was clear what we had done with the faces on the Digipak. Many people responded by saying it was obvious that we had amalgamated the faces of what they presumed to be a band. However, one person suggested that that back cover should be flipped so that the heads were in the same place on either side of the Digipak. This was of course what we had intended but only realised that this wouldn't work when sticking them together. This is something we will have to alter before properly sending them to print. However, it is not a crucial problem. 

- In conclusion, I asked them whether they liked it in general and this was met positively with lots of them thinking it was unique, different and interesting. As means of improvement one person mentioned he found the grey slightly boring so this is something we may consider. 

WEBSITE

- We started by explaining the difficulties we had preparing the website and how it was the least developed of the products.

- One person described how it made them think of India due to the elephant being a key visual image on the homepage.

- One person described how they thought it was very alternative. She said that we are not going down a mainstream route and therefore it is memorable. 

- The group once again reinforced how they liked the London Underground them. 

- An individual mentioned how they would expect to see a picture of the band performing on the homepage. 

VIDEO

- We outlined to the group that this is our first cut of the video and we were open to ideas about altering it. We were slightly pressed for time so this period of questioning wasn't as lengthly as I might of liked.

- When asked what they thought the video was about, one person immediately responded "The band". This may seem a fairly one dimensional response but is fairly accurate as the video does focus in on the band and their journey in the modern industry. 

- A few mentioned how it was clear that they were all really good friends and it was nice to be able to see their personalities, most notably in the recording studio section.

- Someone proclaimed that they liked the way the video "builded" throughout. She said that normally you don't see this in music videos. 

- One girl mentioned that she felt the last set up was like the 'final product', after seeing this gradual progression and getting know the band.

- I questioned what they felt about the 'mood' of the band. They all understood that the band were uncomfortable in the process of making the music video. It appeared this tone was clear as one person described "they loved music but not necessarily making a music video".

- One person criticised by saying that they couldn't see the London underground theme played out through the video as you might hope. However, he said the video wasn't too far detached from the other products. 

- However, another individual claimed the video made it clear that they were a "English" band and that they are "alternative", and this was reinforced by the name. 

Upon reflection, I am pleased with the way the focus group session went. We received some useful feedback on each of the products. People liked the Digipak, concluding that the visual theme was strong and iconic. This alone went some way in communicating the genre of the band effectively. The focus group could clearly identify that the website wasn't complete and needed work, so I feel they therefore withheld critique which they may have otherwise put forward. Despite responding positively to some of its features, one person interestingly suggested that they would expect to see images of the band. We had planned a 'Media' page which would without doubt include lots of pictures of the band, but this was in the previous draft of the website. Contrary to the individuals belief, our research shows that home pages for bands of similar genre (The Kooks, Alt-J) are normally dedicated soul to graphic design as opposed to pictures of the band. This is something we may trial further before making a final decision. In terms of the video, the response was largely very positive with the majority of people understanding it thematically and having little criticism. Some mention that they couldn't identify a continuation of the London Underground theme within the video which is a fair point. This is not something we can alter as the shoot date has passed. However realistically, this is a single music video for one of the songs from an entire album. This means it is unlikely that the bands management would style a whole website and Digipak solely around one video. The music videos that accompany that album are the products that are most likely to show versatility in the real world. In conclusion, I am glad we had this opportunity. It is quite easy when creating things that you are constantly working on to become immune to their effect. This group gave us 'fresh eyes' and the opportunity to use new opinions to go forward.