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Audience

No act of communication affects all people equally; nothing is truly for everyone. It is your task as a designer to analyze the different audience groups a document likely will have and respond accordingly.

To analyze your document's audience, you can ask yourself questions including:

  • Who is this document's primary audience? What defines this group (demographic categories, similar interests, geographical proximity, etc.)?
  • What do primary audience members want from this document? What do they value? What background knowledge do they have?
  • Other than the primary audience, what other groups might be interested in this document (reporters, lawyers, advisors, your boss, etc.)?