[ubuntu-art] Who is our target audience?

[Troy James Sobotka]

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Thorsten Wilms wrote:
> 
> For projects taking 4 months max, the time you can spend worrying about
> your target audience is quite limited.

Perhaps ignoring the time constraints is worthy?  Maybe get the 'broad'
strokes in place then finesse in the details.

> You can do a few interviews,
> maybe a little survey and otherwise hope to find some statistics out
> there. The needs and wants of the audience and any bias in taste remain
> assumptions.

Ubuntu has an audience currently -- and without being too stereotypical,
it is probably a slim margin of tech heads.  We are also free to
_choose_ and audience and attempt to address them.  (By 'we' I mean
Ubuntu -- not _us_ in the team.)

> 
>>> We defined a number of users and thought about their
>>> needs and wants. That's better than having no structured base at all.

100% agreement here.  And far more than what Ubuntu currently has.

>>> For an operating system environment, the target audience can be very
>>> diverse. 

Is this relevant?  Of course it is a computer and can do much, but the
default presentation should be strictly geared toward trying to
attain emotional attachment, investment, and 'need' factor in a given
group.  I wonder if watering down a presentation to please everyone
is a good path to follow in this regard?

> You missed my point. It wasn't about several distinct groups in the
> audience, it's about the question what exactly any single well defined
> group in the audience could tell us that is relevant to theming.
> 
>
> The usefulness of a defined target audience is rather obvious for
> marketing and the selection of software to ship. But I really wonder
> what can be in there for theming? 

How do you think a typical 24 year old male construction worker would
want his default installation to look?  How about that 35 year old
mother?  Do you think we could draw a distinct difference in an
agreed style between say, 16somethings and perhaps 25somethings
for a given 'concept'?

If Ubuntu actually were to embrace a concept for a given user set,
I would indeed think that it was relevant to the theme.  Apple's
brushed aluminum interface didn't happen by chance, for example.
In fact, the interface was a perfect match to the 'style' and
'presence' of the titanium laptop / desktop line.

Being an extension of the overarching 'concept', is it wild
speculation to suggest that it might be relevant indeed?

>> Apple has a disproportionate number of artists and designers
>> under their umbrella -- why?  Because they have constantly
>> catered to the needs of that group and treated them as
>> 'important'.
> 
> This has quite a lot to do with features and history (pioneering WYSIWYG
> and b/w but high-res displays), I think.

And those happen by fluke?

Remember, choosing your audience you wish to attract means
appealing to their sensibilities, needs, desires, wishes,
and style.  Absolutely complicated and not exactly easy.

Apple placed value on that demographic and the results are
shown in the people it attracted.

>> Automobile designers also must carefully
>> focus on how they present a product -- a rugged ATV styled
>> truck needs to be attractive to the quotient that is going
>> to purchase it and emotionally invest in the success of the
>> product.
> 
> Hmm. What type of car would Ubuntu be? ;)

Perhaps a sarcastic question, but an interesting one I would
say...

>> Unfortunately, in the end, the default installations presence
>> and audience are outside of the scope of our realm and lays
>> in the hands of the higher ups.
> 
> Are you saying we should leave it all to them and do nothing until some
> artwork direction including target audience is presented to us?

Yes.  Picking an 'audience' for a presentation is well beyond our
scope and up to the Canonical folks.  If they be willing... ;)


Sincerely,
TJS
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