Who is Our Audience?

Acknowledging users in our design process

Kelly Davis
Corey Kelly
Jen Riso
Katey Sill
Gabriella Suryana
 Target Audience
n Ages 17-24
n Young adults who are educated
n Why? They are beginning to form their
media consumption patterns in life and
they use the net often on a daily basis.

What do you know
about them?
n A college education boosts rates of
Internet access by well over 40
percentage points compared to the
least educated group (Stanford
Press Release)
n Our users are educated and quite
informed
n Tech savvy
 Data suggests “a model of social change with not only
a growing number of Internet users, but with web
users doing more and more things on the
internet in the future”

How do they currently
get info?
Ne ws we b s it e s (e g . CNN, NYTim e s , Wa ll
St re e t e t c .)
Blo g s (e g . Hu ffin g t o n Po s t )
TV
Wo rd o f m o u t h & frie n d s
 Are they well
informed?
Va ryin g d e g re e s wh e t h e r o r n o t s t u d e n t s a re
we ll in fo rm e d
Oft e n d e p e n d s o n in t e re s t s a n d a m o u n t o f
le is u re t im e
Le ve l o f e d u c a t io n is o ft e n a n im p o rt a n t
fa c t o r (p a rt ic u la rly t h e Un ive rs it y o f Mic h ig a n )
Lack of interest or lack
of right tools?
-In t e rn e t a c c e s s o n c a m p u s is e a s ily a c c e s s ib le a t
t h e Un ive rs it y o f Mic h ig a n (fre e a s s t u d e n t )
-Mo s t s t u d e n t s h a ve a c c e s s t o b a s ic t e le vis io n , e ve n
s t u d e n t s livin g in t h e d o rm .
-Mic h ig a n Da ily n e ws p a p e r is fre e .
-Co n c lu s io n : St u d e n t s wh o a re n ’t in fo rm e d , h a s t o
d o w it h la c k o f in t e re s t .
What tools they use –
where and when?

-Du rin g Ob s e rva t io n : Blo g s , fa c e b o o k, ip h o n e s ,

b la c kb e rry’s .
-Us u a lly o c c u rs wh ile d o in g o t h e r t a s ks (m u lt i-
t a s kin g )
-Co n s t a n t ly c o n n e c t e d t h ro u g h p h o n e s
(b la c kb e rry’s a n d ip h o n e s ) a n d p o rt a b le
c o m p u t e rs .
Interview with sample
audience
n Greg Suryana (19) - Student
Interview with sample
audience
n Stephanie Baum, age 20 – Novi, MI
n University of Michigan Student, LSA
n “I get my daily news when I sign into my
Google account and browse through the
titles of the Top Stories. These articles
come from cnn.com and NYTimes.com. I
scan through a few of the articles and aim
to read as great of a variety of news as
possible.”
Interview with sample
audience
n Mary Larijani, age 20 – Wayne, PA
n University of Michigan Student, LSA
n “I get my news from those around me,
mostly my family and friends, as I have
little time to watch the National news or
other news program on TV. Sometimes I
go online to cnn.com, but that is a rare
occasion. Most of the time I just go on
People.com in order to see what in
happening in the entertainment world.”
Interview with sample
audience
n Aaron Sochacki, age 21 – Brighton, MI
n University of Michigan Student, School of Ed.
n “I watch a lot of cable news during the
week. I usually flip between Fox and CNN
to get both a liberal and conservative
perspective. I also go online to bbc.com”
n