How to Design for a Target Audience

Using graphic design elements to target a specific audience can have many benefits, if it is done correctly.  Knowing the likes and dislikes of your audience will help you to decide which colors, images, and layouts to use.  Using specific items that appeal to your target audience can potentially catch their attention and lead them to use or buy your company’s products or services.  Here are a few tips to help you effectively design for a target audience.

The very first thing you need to know in order to design for a target audience is WHO IS YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE?  One way to learn this information is by communicating with your current clients to learn if there are any common characteristics amongst them.  Characteristics such as age, sex, marital status, and income can directly affect the design elements you will choose to use.

Next, you must take all of the information you have gathered and use it to attract your target audience.  This can be as simple as choosing the right color or type to use for your project.  Things like this can vary greatly from one demographic to another.  For example, a younger audience might appreciate bright colors and a more abstract design, however, an older audience might not like those choices at all and would prefer more muted tones, a simple layout, and much larger text.

Things like color and type can help attract a specific type of customer, but going a little bit farther will have even better results.  Your target audience IS your target audience because they need or want something that you are offering.  You should choose your designs, and the photos therein, in a way that draws as much attention to that as possible.  Find images that your target audience will identify with to draw their attention and to show how your product or service can benefit them.

If you are able to identify the characteristics that are specific to your target audience, you can use that information to improve your graphic design projects that are used to market to them.  People will be more attracted to your design if it seems as though it was made specifically for them.