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Finding the Correct Target Audience

(West Chester Digital, 2018)

To start designing any product, it’s important to decide the target users or audience that will be using your creation. These ideal buyers are the base of your design thinking.

What is target Audience?

The Target audience are a group of consumers who are most likely to use or buy your product. These are the people who you aim to design for.

Why do we need target audience?

As a designer, understanding the target audience is vital. Potential users can give you insights into what they want in the product. Aiming at a defined audience will help you design with more clarity and will give importance to the people you are designing for, which will attract their attention into buying the product.

How to determine the target audience?

The Target audience can be ascertained by asking the questions like:

  • Who are you designing for? Or Who needs the product the most?
  • What will be the age bracket of the target audience?
  • Do you need to design for a particular gender?
  • What income group does the targeted audience fall into?
  • What problems are faced by the target audience?

Once we figure out the answers to the above questions, we get a clearer picture of what criteria we need to design for. Understanding your target users, allows you to build relationships and better communicate with them. 

The chosen target users for the projects are young adults from the age 18 to 40. This group of people are more likely to go out during the pandemic to run their personal errands or even help their younger or older family members with their needs. Choosing the right target audience plays a vital role as it enables the designer to direct its study and resources to the audience with high potential all to catch their interest in the design.

(Gamlen, 2021)

According to The Times of India, adults are reportedly the most common group spreading the contagious virus. This was concluded after a study carried out by a team of researchers from Imperial College London using cell phone data from more than 10 million individuals of the USA. The findings revealed that adults between 20 to 49 years have been the ones significantly responsible for the rising COVID cases.

Therefore, my aim is to target the most affected and possibly the most in need. I will be designing public furniture for waiting areas for young adults to protect them from the spread of viruses and bacteria as well as to keep them in social distancing. Hence, I need to empathise with them to understand their needs and behaviour to produce a worthy output. 

Let me know how do you choose your target audience in the comment section below. 
Thank you.

References:

·        Gamlen, P. 2001. Why We Feel Compelled to Say ‘Bless You’ When Someone Sneezes. [image] Available at: <https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/17/well/mind/sneezing-sneezes-god-bless-you-manners-etiquette.html> [Accessed 9 June 2021],.

·         Marketingevolution.com. 2021. Steps to Find Your Target Audience | Marketing Evolution. [online] Available at: <https://www.marketingevolution.com/marketing-essentials/target-audience> [Accessed 9 June 2021].

·         Smashing Magazine. 2013. 50 Design Problems In 50 Days: Real Empathy For Innovation (Part 1) — Smashing Magazine. [online] Available at: <https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2013/05/50-problems-50-days-part-1-real-empathy-innovation/> [Accessed 9 June 2021].

·         The Times of India, 2021. Adults in the 20-49 years age group more likely to spread COVID: Study. [online] Available at: <https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/health-fitness/health-news/coronavirus-spread-adults-in-the-20-49-years-age-group-more-likely-to-spread-covid-study/photostory/80725925.cms?picid=80725944> [Accessed 9 June 2021].

·         West Chester Digital, 2018. Defining Your Target Audience. [image] Available at: <https://www.westchesterdigital.com/2018/11/16/defining-your-target-audience/> [Accessed 10 June 2021].

Comments

  1. Nice post! I see that you have selected your target users based on research data in accordance to your project topic. Do you believe you could refine your targets more specifically or do you prefer your target users to be broad so you can design for more users?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello Sean!!
      I feel that pandemic has affected a large population and the number of people going out with urgent works are also huge, keeping this in mind the bracket of my target audience a bit broad. As I will progress with my exploration sketches the target users might narrow down according to the fitting of the furniture in the specific surrounding.
      Thankyou for your feedback..

      Delete

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