Above is my finished Shmagazine front cover. I took on-board the focus groups advice and changed all of my typography (excluding the masthead and sub heading - 'Your School Choir Needs) to a more interesting font. I also changed the main photo in the bottom right hand corner to a better, much clearer quality.
A background colour (suggested by the focus group) of pail blue really added to the piece as a whole, and demolished any bareness that the front cover may of had.
The feedback from the focus group after showing them my finished piece was positive, they particularly liked the masthead as it supplemented other elements (such as the colour schemes) nicely.