Identifying your target audience helps in developing and achieving successful ideas. The 'target audience' is who the design/project is aimed at and where and how it will be used.
Knowing the audience the design is intended for and then targeting that design to appeal directly is one of the most important factors for success.
Once you know a little about the primary audience for the design, you can start to consider different ways to target the design for the audience. This can take shape in several design elements and it may take some careful consideration to get it done right.
When determining your target audience, age is an influential factor. This is not only for psychological reasons, but also for accessibility, usability and user interface design.
The general 4 age brackets for design are:
- children
- teenagers
- adults
- elderly.
These will need to be expanded upon further research.
Why is age important when designing? Age demographics have different relationships with the web and technology. Younger generations find technology second nature, whereas the elderly population have had to learn and adjust to the ever-changing world of technology and so their behaviours, preferences, need for and attraction differ greatly. These are all important considerations to ensure that your product and designs are directed at the most applicable target audience.
We currently live in a gender-fluid world; however, design stereotypes are everywhere. One of the most noticeable is the separation of designs into feminine and masculine. This influence reaches across colours, typography, images, textures and wording.
Men and women generally have different likes, dislikes, needs and thought processes. For example, few men apply makeup, and most women do not wear boxers.
Not all designs need to be gender-specific. Recently there has been a rise in gender-neutral products. Take Aesop for example--their product is packaged based on what the product contains and who it is for. Light browns, greys, black and white are all gender-neutral colours. To accomplish a gender-neutral design, we use accent colours to balance the feminine and masculine connotations.
When digitally designing, it is important to do market research and establish the target gender of the product. Is there even one? What designs appeal to the target gender?
In terms of design, the types of colours that will attract a specific gender depend greatly on your product or service. Gillette shaving brand is known for creating two different marketing campaigns for their two separate lines: one for women and one for men. Gillette Venus for women is mostly blue, pink, purple and yellow. Gillette for men is also blue but in a deeper tint with white and yellow details.
A person’s occupation can tell you a lot about their behaviours, providing insight into the occupation's key demographic, key psychographics, challenges, preferred channels and preferred content types.
When digitally designing for a specific occupation, a level of research needs to be invested into identifying these behaviours.
Also, if people cannot afford your product or service, there is no point in targeting them. After all, you would not create a digital design to promote Mercedes to someone who cannot afford a vehicle.
The video below expands this concept a little further.
Various research methods collect target audience information--observation is a good start.
In your CANVA portfolio create a research plan for the age groups listed below. To do this, you will need to research the best way to collect target audience information and present your reasoning for each identified age group.
- 16 years - 20 years
- 20 years - 30 years
- 30 years - 60 years
