Social Networking Audience Feedback

Below are my responses to my online appeal for feedback.

Above is my response from my social networking plea for feedback. I am extremely happy with the positive feedback and feel that for this reason (me and my demographic are both happy with the products) I can concluded that these are my final edits. 

Audience Feedback on Social Networking

I feel that I am happy with my products but I would like to see if my demographic are. For this reason I have put up a post on the social networking site Tumblr to see if there are any more improvements needed from their point of view. I enabled answers so the responses would come directly to me. I also used more informal and colloquial language so my demographic would be more attracted to answer it.

Matthew P Feedback

I messaged the artist to inquire about any possible feedback that he could give. Below is the feedback he suggested.

• Matthew P suggested that maybe there were a few too many beach huts on the digipak. Although I can see why he thought this I feel like this is an important and strong motif that connects a house style. In my audience feedback there was a positive reaction to the beach huts and these are more valid opinions as these are the consumers. The way I presented the digipak to the artist could have brought on this opinion as they were all seen next to one another. In reality the panels would mostly be presented individually and there wouldn't be these overwhelming consistent imagery of beach huts.
• It appears that Matthew P prefers more conceptual videos (Lynch) and at this stage this is one factor I cannot change. Although I feel that the demographic will still enjoy it (as supported by my focus group), this feedback is more the artists preference and in hindsight maybe I should have had more communication with the artist to produce a video that he would have preferred. Although I felt that the song fits a narrative better and that the demographic would've preferred this.

Sadly for this reason I won't adapt the suggested improvements. Although it's important to get the artist's input, I feel that some of these adjustments would be too drastic and would affect the house style. Yet I feel this doesn't affect the product too drastically as there was still positive feedback from the demographic.  

Annotations Exercise

To get more feedback on my package I decided to present it to my demographic one more time. I gathered four people (two boys and two girls) separately and conducted a one to one and engaged in conversation with them about the products. I also encouraged them to annotate printed versions of my ancillary products.

Main Areas of Improvement for Magazine Advert:

• "Text looks stretched out" In response to this I will make the text small and less stretched as I agree with this statement.
• "Linear font doesn't match title" I disagree with this statement. Although they juxtapose I feel this works and conveys the font clearly. This opposition prevents information being lost in bulks of writing. Also there have been positive comments on the different fonts, so could just be personal preference.
• "Flag appears to be off centre" I agree with this statement and could move it across in Adobe Photoshop CS6 but I really like this imperfect factor. This is exactly how I found it and I want to depict the imperfection of reality (like in the music video reality wasn't depicted as beautiful, despite the face I slightly romanticised youth homelessness). The flag was off centre in the music video so to maintain continuity I will keep it in its original position.   
• Unclear on what YNDA logo is. I agree that because it isn't a mainstream record company it isn't recognisable. Yet this is part of the vital information needed on the advert so it will remain there.
• The stars aren't central. I agree with this and will move them slightly to the right so they align with the top of the beach hut.

Main Improvements for Digipak:

• "Seagulls would've made photos come alive" Although I agree with this and it would've complimented Matthew P's motifs, it wouldn't have fitted in anywhere on the digipak and would've looked out of place.
• "Inconsistent Instax as last one doesn't fill frame" Again, like the off centre nature of the flag I like the imperfect nature and reflects the laid back nature of the genre and the song.
• Keyboard Errors in thank you letter.
• "Colours on Instax a bit dull" I agree with this but it's the nature of the camera and I find it reflects the first part of the music video with the young girl.
• Repetition of Demo. I will remove the extra word Demo on the track list.

Main Improvements for Music Video:

• Lip Syncing could be improved. I will review the lip syncing and alter it as this has been an ongoing issue so I will address it. If needs I will replace footage with other footage to get the right alignment.
• Abrupt Ending. I agree that the video ends abruptly and to solve this I will fade in the sound of the waves (like at the beginning) and add one more shot of the subject walking to prevent this sudden finish.

Fourth Draft of Digipak

After holding a focus group I came up with various adjustments that the digipak needed. Taking these adjustments into account I created the fourth draft with a completely new layout for the fourth panel. Adjustments include reducing the size of the main image, adding an image of the artist writing a song and removing one of the two similar images.

Matthew P On Top - Fifth Edit

Above I have completed the alterations suggested by my focus group. I used the Saturation tool in the Three-Way Colour Corrector to decrease the intensity of the blue. I did this for the beginning section to add a more dull and overcast atmosphere but left the 'finding' of the note at its original intensity to match the happy, sunny surroundings.

Watching this I have decided to review the music video and decide on possibly weaker parts of the music video that need adapting and editing,

1. There is a close up of the girls eye edited in at 0:22. I feel this disrupts the fluency and the pace of editing. It also looks over-edited and unnatural. 
2. For the "oo ooo" parts at 1:11 I feel that the singer has his eyes squinting which doesn't look very aesthetically pleasing.
3. During the string pluck at 1:15 I feel that the video clips and editing doesn't match the pace of the song. This is quite obvious as the majority of the video is edited according to the rhythm of the track.
4.   Again the shot of the singer/songwriter lip syncing "of anything" 1:41 is squinting which doesn't look very attractive and disrupts the eye to eye contact/relationship between the singer/songwriter and the viewer.

Analysis of Focus Group

Above is my analysis of the focus group results. On the blue side is the issue raised and after clicking the card a green side will show my thoughts and response to the issue.

Focus Group Highlights

For my focus group there were seven people. Four boys and three girls, I felt that this was a really good balance between genders so I could get a varied opinion. Below is the video of the highlights of the focus group and a photo to convey my planned layout. In the end I decided against leaving out lined paper and pens for notes as this would distract the participants away from a discussion. The photo was taken at the beginning while my focus group were looking at the ancillary products. I let them talk and have fun for about five minutes to allow them to relax, get used to being filmed and therefore produce a calm, colloquial and accurate focus group.

Adjustments to Digipak (Third Draft)

In preparation for my focus group I printed my ancillary products. I then analysed how they appeared in print. I found that the advert to be successful but the digipak needed some adjustments.

The first adjustment needed was the height of the two sides. One was higher than the other which meant that when folded there would be evidence of the other side. The bar-code also stood out as it was too far from the side so I moved it closer to the edge. Finally I felt the cover image didn't have a very good quality so I edited and made the titles stand out a lot more by spacing them apart.

I now feel that this draft is the one I can present to the focus group.

Specified Focus Group Planning

I will aim for my focus group to be a maximum of 15 minutes in total.

Structure:

1. I will hand out a copy of the ancillary product to each participant first and let them organise and explore the products. (2 minutes)
2. Ask questions relevant to ancillary products. (5 minutes)

• What genre do you associate with the ancillary products? Why do you pick up this genre? (If the answer isn't singer/songwriter) How could I make it clear that these products belong to this genre?
• Would you purchase the digipak from seeing the ancillary products? Why?
• Looking at the digipak would you feel like they go well together? Do you sense a brand identity? Despite the difference in images can you connect the two products? Why?
• So you've paid £10 for the digipak, this includes; a CD of 12 tracks, thank you letter from the artist, booklet of lyrics and extra images. Do you feel like you would be getting your money's worth? Why?
• How would you improve these products? Are you drawn to them?  

3. Present Music Video (3 minutes)

4. Ask questions relevant to music video. (5 minutes)

• Do you feel that the music video flows well? Is there anything I could improve on?
• Do you enjoy the music video?
• Does the lip syncing appear to be synced to you?
• Is there a connection between the music video and the ancillary products?
• Is there a connection between the music video, ancillary products and the song?

I have added time estimations on each question. This is a rough idea on how much time I should spend on each question, but I will not interrupt if I have a discussion developed. I won't take notes during the session. This will hold up the process and add a formality. Instead I will have two camera's recording and one voice recorder so I will have three sources of the audience feedback to refer back to. I want to keep the conversation informal and relaxed so the participants feel at ease and give information. I also want there to be a formal element so the responses are sensible and make sense.

Location

I have booked the Alpha Room in the Start Up Lounge. This features a projector to show my music video on, a group of tables to allow the participants to lean on while writing and sit together as a collaboration (to encourage feedback and discussion among them) and a flip camera to record on. I have booked this room for Wednesday 11th March 2015 at 1pm but I don't intend the focus group to start until 1:10 to allow set up and preparation (setting out pens, paper and ancillary products).

I will also inform the participants to write notes which I will collect in at the end to read and analyse.

Below is the booking reference for the alpha room in the start up lounge.

Brainstorm of Focus Group Planning

To ensure I cover all necessary points and conduct a fluent focus group I have had a brainstorm of possible facilities, questions and set up. I will plan more precisely after this and finding participants who can attend.

Responding to Hot Desking

One point raised during hot desking is that the right panel lacks infrormation and writing. I tried to add an important lyric from the leading single. I found it really hard to encorporate it into the design. Above are the results and I feel that this really doesn't work. The black is too harsh and the typography really stands out. The other panels are really busy and I feel that this empty panel breaks it down through use of space. For this reason I will ignore this response to hot desking as I don't feel it benefits the design or the consumer.

Hot Desking Results Analysis

To ensure I get the most out of the hot desking I will analyse the answers and see what I should improve and what I should keep.

Hot Desking

To develop my designs I wanted to recieve some feedback that would introduce some possible improvements, tips and strengths. Below is the document of the questions and feedback that was actually used during the hot desking exercise.

Hot Desking Analysis

Feedback Action Plan

Hot Desking

Hot Desking

Above is my hot desking responses. I accidentally uploaded the wrong music video which still contained people speaking over the track. I will not include this in my analysis as I think it is more human error than a fault with the music video itself.