Good Creative Aim

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GOOD CREATIVE AIM

Creative Solutions Are Effective Only If The AudiencePays Attentionby Pawluh

10 June 2001

Every successful design, no matter how small or howlarge, shares one element in common. Promoting the new80-ounce caffeinated confection, pumping out florescentorange flyers for a late night rave, creating an e-commercesite that will make or break a company...Each is the same

at its core.

No matter how small or how large the project,effectiveness depends on one thing: Getting the messageto the people. Coffee sales increase, the rave is a success,the shopping site sells product, or these names becomefamiliar to an audience even if sales don't increase. Allthis, simply because there is an audience that is payingattention.

Okay, but how does that happen? By getting to know theaudience. When you know who should be told about an

event, product or (insert just about any noun here) then

you can find a way to reach them. Creating a six-color,three-varnish annual report for the Eggcited Egg Farm, nomatter how beautiful, might just lead their stockholders towonder if all their profits went into the making of thereport. You could argue that you're reaching thestockholders, but certainly not in any intended way.

FIND THE TARGET

Increase the potency of good design by trying to speakdirectly to that customer, consumer, client, person. Anaudience is much more inclined to pay attention to a

message directed at them. We all are. And the fact thatyour client knows you're building the creative solution onthis solid foundation only increases her or his confidence inboth you and your work.

Here are some general ways to learn about the audience:

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Page 1 of 4Pawluh writes about the aim of graphic design.

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1. Know and use market data. The folks at Eggcited EggFarm opened a store in a new town and want you to get

the word out. Ask plenty of questions about their existingcustomers. Educate yourself. If you're lucky, you'll findthat the Eggcited marketing team will have mined loads ofdata. They'll tell you that their usual customer is over 60,

doing well financially, is Hispanic or Caucasian, and is agrandparent. Armed with these facts you can tailor thecreative to this segment of people in the new town bydoing such things as using font sizes large enough for

older eyeballs.

2. Learn about the history of the business. Even withoutclear market analysis the folks at Eggcited could tell you alot. After all, every company is an expert on its ownbusiness. They just want you to help them get the wordout! So ask questions. "What has been your most effectivedesign solution? Why? What promotions (discounts,incentive programs) have been used and which workedbest?" These sorts of things.

Even these few questions can bring you closer to getting to

know the audience. For instance, if the Eggcited client hada high 5% return mailing "junk mail" then this is definitelyan important segment to look at. Zip codes give lots ofgeneral data, such as urban versus rural, affluence levelsand such. Look at the design and content of thesemailings. If their best promo was giving away free t-shirtsat the local health food store, ask for information includingwhy health food stores and related outlets might be a goodmarket for their product. You already know that thesecustomers like free stuff, which is good to know.

3. Focus on the subject to understand it. You can infer alot from the project itself. Think about the event, theproduct, the company being promoted. If you're designinga shopping site for a client called Clotheshorse, Inc., lookat what they're selling. If it's horse paraphernalia thenyou're pretty close to finding the audience already. It could

include the parents of pre-teen and teen girls (the girlscannot legally make purchases online) as well as up-scale

folks with considerable financial resources. And their




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prospective customers are definitely online.

4. Study the competition. A really simple, effective way to

get a handle on the audience is to check out thecompetition. Are Clotheshorse's competitors trying toreach a particular audience? Look at their creative. Do theyuse messages and design solutions that are trendy,classical, or minimal? If you know what the competition isdoing you can decide to either beat them at their own

game by doing the same thing more effectively or to reach

their audience in a different way.

5. Plan for the future. Keep in mind that whatever youcreate will be seen by others besides the select audienceon which you've focused. Try not to alienate what could

have been a potential client or consumer. Even better,always look for opportunities of bringing in new people.

HIT THE MARK

Think analytically to build solid creative that works. After

all, the creative process isn't about making something lookpretty. It's about communicating, making a huge worldinto a familiar neighborhood, changing an unfamiliar ideainto a household term. Fifty percent of the process ofcreating good design seems to be research. Twenty-fivepercent, psychology and knowing how our fellow humans

think. The last quarter is where creativeness finally comesinto play.

To make a short story long, once you know the audience,

half the work is done.

Author Bio: Paula is a creative art director for pixel andprint who's crafted effective e-commerce since 1995.

Settled in the Boston area, her freelance studio is sharedwith a bald cat and an allergic terrier.http://www.pawluh.com (this link will open a newwindow).

Copyright 2001, Paula Frederick. All rights reserved.




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