The role of an audience.

The role of knowing your target audience is very important, as it gives you a better focus and understanding of what you are intending to communicate. It is also important that you make your intended target audience as specific as possible, because this will then enhance the output of your content.

Whether your project is specifically aimed for a female or male audience will also play a significant role. For example a magazine aimed for girls, would have content which is stereotypically female such as fashion, make-up and gossip, whereas a magazine which has been aimed for a male audience would contain content such as, motor vehicles and the latest gadgets. 

 The audience can be anyone from young children, adults or to a wider audience for example, international students. By understanding your target audience this will then allow you to not only decide your content but it will also help you to determine the layout of the pages. If you were designing a book for young children the layout and content would be completely different to a book aimed for adults. The layout of children’s book would have limited words on each page, in a large font and accompanied with colourful illustrations, whereas an adults book would have a small font, a lot more pages and usually only a photo or an illustration on the front and back cover.

Below is an example where C.K Koh has illustrated an image to communicate the issue of bullying to young children. The use of the characters he has created makes it more accessible for children to understand the meaning in a more light hearted way. The use of quite subtle colours rather than harsh bright colours also helps the message to be communicated in a less intimidating manor.  

C.K Koh