Understanding the Audience

"If I'd asked people what they wanted, they would have said a faster horse" -Henry Ford

I was searching the Quotes on Design webpage for something that made me think of today's reading, and in many ways this one stuck with me. Knowing your audience is an all-encompassing process. Not only does a designer have to get inside the minds of the audience in the form of exactly what software/hardware they're using, but they have to take it one step further. An audience knows what they THINK they want; a designer's job is to take what they think they want and make it better, into what they didn't even know they needed.

Of course, this requires a thorough understanding of the audience in question, which is what much of the reading discusses. Analytics and testing may seem like boring bits to the process, but from the CS standpoint I can vouch for their need. In order to reach the largest audience, one has to make sure that their design works on as many operating systems, browsers, and other software as possible. A user expects a seamless process from start to finish, and not knowing what tools the audience may use could cause them technical difficulties, an obvious deterrent.

Making an initial release fully capable for all possible combinations would be of course, a lengthy and consuming process. This is another way in which knowledge of the audience can be helpful. Knowing the analytics of the most used technologies overall, as well as the most used by your target audience (for example, it's commonly said that many artistic minds will use Apple, business typically Windows, and more code/heavily-computer-interested may use Linux) can help make the best decisions for the first round of thorough compatibility testing.

Keeping the audience in mind is a necessity not only for their ease of use, but for their enjoyment. A formal website with a childish feel is just as off-putting to the user as a game website laid out in a professional corporation's style. By targeting your focus audience, you may alienate others. However, you will attract a larger and more loyal audience by ensuring that the audience you are attempting to attract is the same mood that your site conveys.

In all cases, a web design should act as an extension of the user's mind, having an effortless and intuitive process for finding whatever one is searching for. If one ensures above all to keep the audience's ways of navigating at the forefront, many of the other items tend to fall seamlessly into place.