The best form of communication is between one person and another. And the better the two people know each other, the better they communication. Radio journalists have known this for years. They talk about the listener (singular) and when you hear the best of them, they sound like they are talking just to you. That's because they are talking to just one person and they think of that person as a friend.
The trick is to condense your audience into a single person. That person does not have to embody every aspect of every member of your actual audience. It turns out that vaguely typical is close enough. You do have to know them well though. You need to know them as a complete human being. Their tastes, their foibles.
There is a useful technique called the
phantom friend. Construct an imaginary friend by answering a few simple questions. The answers can be driven by prejudice or intelligence or research. It doesn't much matter. It gets you thinking about the audience as a singular human being. Here are the questions:
- What is their name?
- What age are they?
- What is their job?
- What are their hobbies?
- Where to they live and with whom?
- What newspaper do they read?
- Where do they buy their groceries?
- What do they watch on TV?
- What car do they drive?
- What clothes do they wear?
- What do they spend their spare cash on?
The better you understand this person, the easier it is to make decisions about your web site, so be creative. Don't just say they live in London. Say they live in a converted Victorian terrace in Islington with a girlfriend they are trying to get around to dumping and a fluffy cat that makes them sneeze. It doesn't limit your audience to people with cat allergies, it just reminds you they are real people.
Labels: Web design, Writing tips
