Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
Defining the audience
Designers need to be able to identify the audience or group of people to whom they
are communicating. This can make the difference between a successful design and an
unsuccessful one. Audiences can be defined by a number of factors such as gender,
race, age, occupation or income. The analysis of these categories is known as demo-
graphics. By examining several of these categories it is possible to define a demo-
graphic profile. This profile provides information about a typical member of this
group. The information designer can use this material to understand the needs and re-
quirements of a specific audience and adjust their designs accordingly.
An audience for a product or service can be very general, for example, an internation-
al audience of 18- to 65-year-olds of varying levels of education and different cultural
backgrounds, or very specialist, such as 8- to 12-year-old middle-class British boys
who like computer technology. Even though information is on view in public places
and visible to all of us, it is not aimed at everyone. There is no single audience. The
important thing is to identify the main users and understand the kinds of needs and/or
restrictions that should be considered when designing for them.
Shown overleaf are four mobile phones, as an illustration of the way a specific cat-
egory of audience uses a product and how in turn that audience can influence the de-
velopment of the product. Each phone is essentially the same product, with the same
basic functions. The type of category or audience, however, has had a huge effect on
the look, feel and usability of the product.
A simple smartphone has a multitude of functions such as phone, text, email, camera,
maps, GPS, music and alarm. The ability to use all of these functions depends on the
kind of user and their level of proficiency with the technology. Not everyone will use
every function, even if they are available.
The Doro phone, produced in Sweden, has been designed with elderly users in mind.
It has a limited number of functions, and the size and visibility of the buttons on the
keypad were determined as a result of testing on older people whose sight and dex-
terity might be impaired.
The Firefly phone from the USA has been designed with children as young as 5 years
of age in mind. It dispenses with normal keypad functions and instead of using nu-
merals it uses pictograms to represent mother, father, answer and end. The parent can
