Who Are You Designing that Website For?

A website which has no target audience in mind is doomed from the start. Without an audience in mind, the website will be chaotic and unappealing to the audience you desire. Here are some tips to help you define your target audience before the first code is ever typed.

Ask yourself: Who is this site for? This may be obvious, but you need specifics. "This site is for kids who need help with their homework." is not enough. While it may be true, the more information you have, the better off you are. What grade are these kids in? What subjects do they need help with? Where do these kids live? What kinds of computers and other devices do they have access to? How likely is it that the children have learning disabilities which must be accommodated in the design?

Having answers to these questions will help you formulate a plan to design a site which works much better for the audience and will make it more successful in the end. Knowing how old the children are and where they live will help you understand how you need to present the information. Finding out more about learning disabilities and how they affect children who may be using your site will help you further decide how to present and organize the information in such a way to make sure it will suite the audience so they get what they need from the site. By knowing what equipment the audience is using and has access to you will be able to design a site with features you know the audience will be able to utilize.

Conduct surveys and brainstorming sessions with others on the design team and the client to get ideas and a clearer definition of your audience. If possible, conduct a usability study with a cross-section of target audience members and a prototype to get reactions to make changes to the site before you release a final version to a client.