Comments on: 3 Reasons Why You Are Not The Target Audience http://www.trone.com/2009/05/3-reasons-why-you-are-not-the-target-audience/ Fri, 16 Jul 2010 13:12:07 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 By: Scott http://www.trone.com/2009/05/3-reasons-why-you-are-not-the-target-audience/#comment-362 Scott Tue, 02 Jun 2009 14:56:06 +0000 https://intranet.trone.com/EmployeeV3/TroneWebsite/?p=2400#comment-362 I totally agree with you on web site usability. What's intuitive for the designer or even the client, may be completely confusing to the real target. User testing is so important, even if you can find one or two people not on the development team to fumble through a site. You can learn a lot by watching them. I totally agree with you on web site usability. What’s intuitive for the designer or even the client, may be completely confusing to the real target. User testing is so important, even if you can find one or two people not on the development team to fumble through a site. You can learn a lot by watching them.

]]> By: Chris Edwards http://www.trone.com/2009/05/3-reasons-why-you-are-not-the-target-audience/#comment-361 Chris Edwards Tue, 02 Jun 2009 13:13:11 +0000 https://intranet.trone.com/EmployeeV3/TroneWebsite/?p=2400#comment-361 I have run into this so many times over the course of my career. Designers especially can lose focus on this point. Package designs targeted toward a "Wal-Mart" shopper with an income of $28,000 year, Some community college and three kids. A designer will design something that would look right at home in Graphis or I.D. but to the target, it's like "WTF is this? How do I open it? What is it? I also think the web is an especially dangerous place for this to occur. Web designers, developers, etc. can almost NEVER use themselves as the intended target for usability. They spend 5-10x the time on the internet than does the average user. Unless you have can really put yourself in the place of the average user (and very few can), then focus group the usability. Flash is especially problematic when it comes to usability and the average targeted web user. 98.8% of Flash is design for design's sake. Not for the sake of the user. I have run into this so many times over the course of my career. Designers especially can lose focus on this point.

Package designs targeted toward a “Wal-Mart” shopper with an income of $28,000 year, Some community college and three kids. A designer will design something that would look right at home in Graphis or I.D. but to the target, it’s like “WTF is this? How do I open it? What is it?

I also think the web is an especially dangerous place for this to occur. Web designers, developers, etc. can almost NEVER use themselves as the intended target for usability. They spend 5-10x the time on the internet than does the average user. Unless you have can really put yourself in the place of the average user (and very few can), then focus group the usability. Flash is especially problematic when it comes to usability and the average targeted web user. 98.8% of Flash is design for design’s sake. Not for the sake of the user.

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