Determining audience considerations

Determining the audience considerations of a design is an important step for making sure that the scope of your project matches the your audience, their knowledge level, and their needs. A poorly fitting design with the audience will alienate participants, discourage participation, and ultimately prevent learning objectives from being achieved.

This procedure walks instructional designers through some of the key components of thinking about the audience who will use the product and considering its composition (e.g., is the audience children, or adults?), their prior knowledge and experiences, their common needs and constraints for participation, and the contexts in which the audience will participate with the product.

About this procedure

After you have determined some of the initial topics and learning objectives that you would like the product to teach, it is useful to consider next the audience of the product. This procedure will help you generate descriptions of the audience for whom the product will be used and the commitments toward design that you will make as a designer to ensure that the product aligns with the needs of each audience.

For a product to work well and to help people learn, it needs to take into consideration the audience and its needs so that the product can be designed in ways that meet these needs. The range of the human experiences and identities that people have is very broad, and educational products that do not align with the intended audiences have higher chances of failing to achieve learning objectives. Therefore, the intended audience of an educational product should be well defined, included, and represented so that learning outcomes can be better achieved.

Figure 1. Process of determining audience considerations and design commitments. A six-step process for identifying a product's target audience and their individual needs is useful for determining how a product should be designed to meet the audience's needs. Additionally, the steps in this process encourage designers to make commitments about their designs to ensure that audience backgrounds, perspectives, identities, and needs are supported in ways that maximize learning outcomes.

In Figure 1, a diagram of the procedure for determining audience considerations is provided. The procedure can be accomplished in any order, but following step-by-step allows for you to build on the information of previous steps. First, in Step 1, you will broadly define the audience, their age range, and the contexts in which they will participate with the product. In Step 2, you will identify the prerequisites and required knowledge that participants will need to have to understand the learning activities and achieve the learning objectives that are defined in another procedure.

In Step 3, you perform some initial analysis on and define the common experiences and prior knowledge that the audience has regarding the topics that your product teaches. In Step 4, you will consider the concepts of diversity and equity to ensure that people from multiple backgrounds are included and represented in the product, that people from different backgrounds have their needs accounted for in the design, and that people from underrepresented groups are encouraged to participate.

In Step 5, you will consider aspects of audience accessibility and the physical needs of people to participate in the learning activities. You will define design commitments to ensure that the product is accessible to as broad of range of people as possible, regardless of disability. Finally, in Step 6, only after the product has been designed and developed for a while, designers should return to their audience considerations and commitments to ensure that the product remains aligned with the defined audience's needs and interests.

It is important to remember that it is impossible to identify every aspect about the audience that will be using the design. Also, there will always be exceptions to your audience considerations, so any audience analysis should be flexible so that the designer can get a general idea of the different groups of people who may use the product so that the design can actively support any learner who may wish to benefit from the product. Designers should certainly never stereotype or make prejudicial actions against any particular group. The purpose of this activity is not to categorize people, but instead to understand and embrace the differences in people and how differences in people's perspectives, backgrounds, and identities might be supported within a learning product. As any instructional designer's goal is to improve learning, this process of identifying the audience's needs is an important one to making sure that the product aligns with the specific goals and needs of the learners.

Instructions

In the following steps, you can find additional links to sub-steps and tasks. The tasks that first-time instructional designers should focus on are marked with the ✳️ green star emoji. An orange star emoji ✴️ is a more advanced task that will give you a more robust plan and consider more of the aspects that will lead to a stronger product, but beginners can pass on the advanced tasks to keep their planning simpler.

Any ❔ Questions to answer sections provide you with prompts and ideas to help you work through and think about each step. If you need inspiration or ideas, consider the questions to answer section and work through each item.

When something says to 📓 Document, be sure to jot down your notes, make lists, and document your work so that you will have a record of your decisions. You will use your notes to specifically develop your design specifications, but the notes may also be useful for any reports, proposals, or other documents that you may need to create that describe your design. Don't forget to include the current date on your notes!

✳️ Step 1: Determine general descriptions of the audience

Although it is always difficult to categorize human behavior, it is important to gain an understanding of who will generally use the product. A single educational product can focus on working with students at different grade levels, employees, the general public, people informally over the internet, or even volunteers at an organization. Getting an idea of who the product will serve helps the designers to create activities that are appropriate for the age level, interests, and intended learning objectives for the target audience.

It is impossible to identify every aspect about the audience that will be using the design. Also, there will always be exceptions to your audience considerations, so any audience analysis should be flexible so that the designer can get a general idea of the different groups of people who may use the product so that the design can actively support any learner who may wish to benefit from the product.

For this step, use the categories of age, context, and interests that are discussed below to determine and describe your audience in very general terms to understand broadly who the design is intended to serve, as well as what some of their interests and motivations might be. Understand, though, that these categories that you identify do not completely define every single person in the audience, but instead serve as a general guide for how to design and develop the product so that it aligns with the audience and their needs and interests.

First, educational products commonly target specific age ranges for an audience that is based on the developmental level of the audience and their ability to understand the content being studied, particularly when working with children. Common age ranges for educational products include:

• Early childhood (0-5)
• Elementary and middle grades (ages 5-12)
• Teenagers (ages 12-18)
• Young adults (ages 15-24)
• Young adult college students (ages 18-24)
• Adults of all ages (ages 18-100+)
• Working professionals (ages 18-65+)
• Older adults and retirees (55+)

Knowing the age range of the audience can help the designer to ensure that materials, media, and content can be developed at an age-appropriate developmental level with regards to literacy, conceptual understanding, and life experience. You don't want to necessarily be teaching quantum physics to a 4-year old... unless of course it's a very precocious 4-year old!

Second, you can identify the context(s) in which an educational product will be used. This can also help identify the audience that will use the product. Common contexts include:

• Formal pre-K-12
  • Early childhood education / preschools
  • Grade K-5 elementary schools
  • Grade 6-8 middle schools
  • Grade 9-12 high schools
  • Alternative schools and homeschool
• College / higher education
  • Community and junior colleges (2-year)
  • Trade schools and apprenticeship programs
  • Colleges and universities (4-year)
  • Graduate school (masters and doctoral degrees, certificates)
• Informal and casual learning
  • After school programs / extracurricular activities
  • Museums and science centers
  • Online courses and tutorials to learn skills, hobbies, etc.
  • Self-directed learning
• Business and corporate learning
  • Professional training, licensure, and certification
  • Business trainings / professional learning
  • New employee learning
• Nonprofit, charity, advocacy, and government contexts
  • Advocacy and awareness campaigns
  • Political campaigns
  • Government trainings and educational campaigns
• Safety and security contexts
  • Safety drills and emergency readiness
  • First aid and personal health practices

Third, you can try to identify common interests and motivations of the audience that you intend the product to serve. By identifying any common interests and motivations, the design can possibly include these items as contexts to improve participation and engagement.

• Entertainment, media, and music that they enjoy
  • Although this may widely differ among the audience, you may be able to find commonalities among the audience members in the types of TV, movies, streaming, books, music, genre of entertainment, and social media that the audience uses.
• Hobbies, interests, or activities that the audience enjoys
  • Although this may widely differ among the audience, you may be able to find commonalities among the audience members in the types of sports, games, videogames, after school programs, community involvement, or other activities that they enjoy - depending on who your audience is.
• School and career motivations (e.g., getting good grades, having fun at school, learning interesting things, learning relevant things to personal life, getting into college, getting into graduate school, getting a good job in a desired field)
• Home and family life motivations (e.g., having required food/water/shelter, providing for family, owning a home, paying bills, financial stability)
• Work and performance motivations (e.g., new skill acquisition, promotion, increase in responsibilities or salary)
• Personality motivations (e.g., tendency to be creative, enjoy making things, enjoy problem and puzzle solving, enjoy helping others)

❔ Questions to answer. To help you in this step, answer the following questions:

1. In very general terms, describe who will use the product. Consider commonalities among people who would use the product that you are designing.
2. Identify the age range of the potential audience. What ages are the people who will be using this product? At this age, what is their experience with educational products, media and technology, literacy, and language? This is particularly important to identify for children, as the developmental level ranges between educational grades varies widely. You will want to make sure that the content and the activities align with what the audience can understand and participate in.
3. Identify the context in which the product will be used. What are the audiences in this context and how can you describe them? Why are they participating in the context (e.g., school, work) and what reasons do they have to participate with the educational product within that context? Will participation be required in this context, or voluntary (or sometimes both)?
4. If possible, identify some common motivations and interests of this target audience you have begun to identify. This may require surveying the potential audience or reviewing previously done research on the audience.

Also, remember that the descriptions that you generate about the audience are general guides and there will always be exceptions to the descriptions that you make. Do not lock yourself into following only the audience descriptions, but instead leave your design with some flexibility to accommodate others who may use it!

📓 Document the general descriptions of your audience that you determined, including the age range, context in which they will participate, and some of the common interests and motivations if you identified any.

✳️ Step 2: Identify any specialized knowledge that is expected

In this step, designers should identify what prior knowledge and experiences are needed to participate with the product. This is an important step as it identifies what knowledge, skills, and experiences that an audience is assumed to already have and how this will affect the design process in future steps. If the audience does not have the expected levels of knowledge, skills, or experiences so that they can be successful with the product, then there is a mismatch between the learning objectives and the audience - and the scope of the product should be reworked.

For example, if the product is to be used in school settings (K-12 or higher education), consider what competencies or understandings the students are generally expected to have before they start using the product. What courses should have students taken in the past, or what subjects should they have studied so that they can participate with the product? If they are not properly equipped to participate, then the audience is not a good fit for the learning objectives for the product and will likely face challenges

In another example, if the product is to be used in business and professional settings, designers will need to consider the knowledge and skills that are required to understand the content and participate in the activities of the activity. The designers should inquire as to what knowledge and skills are necessary to participate in the product in the first place so that the audience's prior knowledge (in Step 3) can be compared to what knowledge is expected or assumed.

❔ Questions to answer. To help you in this step, answer the following questions:

1. What knowledge, skills, or experiences are required or expected for a person to have before they even begin participating with the product? What do you assume that people need to have done already to be able to succeed with the product and achieve learning objectives? Are there any prerequisite experiences, courses, or knowledge that someone needs to have to work on the learning objectives that you determined in a previous process?

📓 Document the prerequisite knowledge and experiences that the audience is assumed to have or expected to be able to demonstrate so that they can participate with the product and achieve the learning objectives.

✳️ Step 3: Identify prior experiences and knowledge of the audience

In this step, you should try your best to identify and define what kinds of prior knowledge, skills, and experiences that your audience (as defined so far in Step 1) has related to the learning objectives that you defined in a prior task and the prerequisite knowledge that you defined in Step 2. Designers should ask if there there are any shared experiences that the audience has all had that will be applicable toward achieving the learning objectives and addressing the prerequisite knowledge from Step 2.

It may be impossible to accurately identify everything that the full audience knows, but they may have common experiences in school, training, work, or everyday life that can be used to help them achieve the intended learning objectives for your product.

The prior knowledge and experiences of audiences matters toward their ability to participate in educational activities and whether they will understand and be able to act in expected ways with the educational product.

❔ Questions to answer. To help you in this step, answer the following questions:

1. What kinds of knowledge, skills, and experiences has the audience commonly experienced that are related to the learning objectives?
2. Are there common educational courses, educational products, apps, or software that the audience has generally used? Has the audience generally all had exposure to and practice with similar areas of knowledge (such as concepts, ideas, and skills)?

📓 Document the experiences, knowledge, and skills that you have identified as common to the audience, and your reasoning for this assumption. Document any areas that audience members might not have so that the designers can develop supports to help people who do not have all of the assumed or expected levels of knowledge and skills.

✳️ Step 4: Consider the diversity of the audience and equity commitments

Even within the broad descriptions of the age of the participants and the context in which the product will be used, there will likely be a diverse range of backgrounds, experiences, and identities that your audience has. You should consider the diversity of the audience and identify the range of perspectives and backgrounds that will be represented while the product is being used.

For this step, instructional designers should consider the different perspectives, experiences, and identities that your audience might have. Additionally, designers should consider through a commitment to equity how to actively include traditionally underrepresented and marginalized groups. Human experience is widely varied and there's no single way to categorize a person. However, commonalities among people do exist and making sure that people and their perspectives and needs are adequately represented is a good way of promoting participation with a product (and, subsequently, learning achievement).

Instructional designers need to identify whether the product will predominantly serve specific identity groups or people with certain backgrounds. As mentioned before, there is a great depth to human experience and identity, so it is important to understand the backgrounds and identities of the potential participants so that activities, media, and interfaces can be designed in ways that they understand, can relate to, and align with their backgrounds and prior knowledge. By committing to the inclusion and representation of multiple identity groups within educational products, designers improve the chances for success that the product will achieve the desired learning outcomes.

Designers can strive for inclusion and representation of people from varied backgrounds and identity groups, including:

• Race, culture, history, language, location
• Age, gender, sexuality
• (dis)ability or physical or mental health conditions
• Education level, prior knowledge, school location (rural, suburban, urban, online), personal experience, history with formal education
• Economic status (SES), income, employment, access to technology
• Religious beliefs, values, customs, philosophies, political beliefs

Designers should also determine their commitments to equity with their product. It is particularly important within instructional design to strive for inclusion and representation of traditionally underrepresented and marginalized groups, such as black, indigenous, and people of color (BIPoC), lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people (LGBTQ), people with disabilities, and people with low incomes or socioeconomic status. Designers should consider whether their products will work with people from these groups, consider ways to actively include these groups, and commit toward actively representing them to improve learning outcomes among these groups.

By promoting diverse representation and inclusion, it is not just the people from various backgrounds or identity groups who benefit. Instead, all people who use the product can benefit from embracing diverse audiences by learning from a variety of perspectives and being exposed to a rich collection of ideas and understandings. The more that people see complex ideas and abstract concepts from different perspectives, the greater their understandings will be. A diverse audience that participates with the product can help foster diverse perspectives. Therefore, an educational product has a much stronger design if it actively encourages the participation and representation of people from multiple backgrounds.

There are several options that designers can pursue to ensure that people of diverse backgrounds can actively participate without having to request special accommodation:

• Deliver informational content in multiple redundant ways to allow people flexibility in how they use media based on their comfort
• Consider accessibility in designs to promote anyone's successful use of the product regardless of background
• Actively solicit feedback and consultation from diverse stakeholders
• Represent members from various social groups and backgrounds to reflect inclusion for participants: Let them see themselves in the people portrayed in the educational materials
• Allow for flexibility and potential for errors - a designer cannot anticipate every challenge that will arise, especially when products are used in diverse communities

❔ Questions to answer. To help you in this step, answer the following questions:

1. What common backgrounds, perspectives, and identities are represented by the people who compose the target audience? It is not necessary to gather statistics or survey the audience, but what common backgrounds are represented in your target audience (as determined in Step 1).
2. Is your product intended to be used with specific groups of people with a common background or identity? If so, what are some of the specific things that should be considered during the design and development phases? What are some commitments that the designers can make to ensuring that the product will be understandable, accessible, and learning can be achieved?
3. What steps or commitments should be made to promote the inclusion and representation of people from historically underrepresented and marginalized groups (i.e., what are your commitments to equity)? What steps should be taken during the design and development phase to encourage high levels of participation of marginalized groups?
4. What perspectives should be represented on the design team and what skills or backgrounds should your design team have to ensure that the design meets the needs of people from various groups that the product will serve?

📓 Document the different backgrounds and social identity groups that your audience commonly represents. Also document the considerations and commitments that should be made during the design process to ensure that people from the identified groups can understand, access, and learn from the product. Also document the steps and commitments that should be taken in the design process to include and represent groups from underrepresented or marginalized groups.

✳️ Step 5: Consider accessibility commitments for the audience

The idea behind accessibility is to promote participation and inclusion of the audience without having to request special accommodations. All products should aim to be accessible to the widest possible range of participants through a commitment to accessibility.

Not only is accessibility a design consideration for your audience and can improve learning outcomes, but it is also the law in many cases related to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) or other statutes that guarantee accessibility in public contexts. Additionally, accessibility aims to include everyone regardless of their ability to perceive information or physically move, without having the person to have to request special accommodations from the teacher or designer. Instead, accessibility to the content and activities is ensured by default so that there are fewer barriers to participation from the outset.

Therefore, it is essential to consider the accessibility needs of your products and learning spaces so that they encourage and enable participation, regardless of whether a participant has a specific disability or need.

In this step, you will consider some of the common accessibility needs of audiences based on people's ability to perceive information, understand media, move in a physical space, and access technologies. Identify the areas of accessibility that you want your product to commit to so that it can be used by as wide of range of people as possible.

By establishing commitments to accessibility before any design occurs, you can ensure that your product remains accessible from the bottom up at the outset of design. No complicated retrofitting or revision should be necessary if principles of accessibility and universal design are defined and followed before the design and development process even starts!

Common commitments to accessibility include:

• Ensuring that everyone can use and understand information (text, sound, visuals)
• Ensuring that a single media source is not the only way to use information (e.g., readings are only in print book form)
• Ensuring that all text is "machine readable" so that a computer can interpret the text (e.g., for screen reading and vocalization technology)
• Ensuring that the use of color is not confusing for people with color-blindness or other visual impairments
• Ensuring that the language used in the materials is understandable if non-speakers are participating (e.g., through use of translation, subtitles, etc.)
• Ensuring that any physical learning spaces (e.g., classrooms, museums) have enough space available for mobility devices to be used and that any required physical movements for learning activities can be accommodated

• Follow all accessibility standards for media, internet accessibility (such as adhering to the W3C web accessibility standards or the Americans with Disabilities Act)
• Commit to including captions and alternative text on all images, graphics, or visual media
• Ensuring that all text is machine readable

If your product predominantly serves audiences that need specialized accommodations, the designers should ensure that alternative media and communications are used to accommodate the audience's needs. For example, if an educational product is being designed to help people with difficulty reading text (dyslexia), the design of the product needs to specifically accommodate for participants' needs and use alternative forms of media and not just text.

❔ Questions to answer. To help you in this step, answer the following questions:

1. What are some of the commitments to accessibility that should be considered in the design of your product? It is ok to use the list "common commitments to accessibility" for this, as many issues of accessibility are common across educational contexts.
2. How might your product use physical space? Will it use a classroom, or might people have to move around? Do people have access to move in this space and perform any physical activities, even with mobility devices?

📓 Document the commitments to accessibility that you defined in this step. Your commitments will most likely match the list above entitled "common commitments to accessibility." At its core, accessibility aims to include anyone regardless of their ability to perceive information, use technology, or move in physical spaces.

✴️ Step 6: Review your commitments and ensure alignment

Note: this step is only to be done after you have done some design and development work on the product.

In a process of design, it is useful to first consider the audience, then get to designing and building. Only after you have done some design work and begin to create the product, you should return to the audience considerations and commitments that you defined in Steps 1 through 5 so that you can ensure that the product, as it is being developed, continues to be aligned with the scope of the audience that you wish to serve.

❔ Questions to answer. To help you in this step, answer the following questions:

1. Review each of the items that you documented in Steps 1 through 5 after you have spent some time designing and building your product. Specifically, review the commitments and principles that you established in this phase to meet the needs and interests of your target audience.
2. Compare each of the commitments and audience considerations with each of the activities, design features, and technologies that your product includes to ensure that the product remains aligned with the audience's needs.
3. As necessary, revise the audience scope or the product's design to maintain alignment between the project and the audience.

📓 Document and revise any changes that you have made to your audience research, considerations, and commitments that were generated in Steps 1 through 5. However, only document these changes after you have had substantial time in design and development of the product.

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