Audience Analysis

Our audience analysis is guided by the following three questions:

1. Who is the audience?
2. What are their problems or difficulties?
3. How can we best help them solve these problems or difficulties?

1. Our primary audience is complex because it is comprised of new, experienced, and advanced users, though there are likely fewer advanced users. The two groups that we want to focus on are those who are ready to learn and comfortable with the technology and those who are not. We need to write to support both groups of users, especially since this course's content is driven by the students themselves.

2. The overall goal of students in the Web Expressions course is to create a web page that highlights their creativity. The students are given a brief introduction to Adobe Photoshop Elements in the course, but its use is not a requirement for the final project. Therefore, students may not want to learn APE because it is an intimidating program. It has a complex interface and utilizes many tools that can overwhelm the new user; knowing where to start can be difficult.

3. It is our job to entice and familiarize students with Photoshop Elements so they are comfortable exploring on their own. We will do this through user-friendly and accessible tutorial suites and procedures that focus on basic Photoshop Elements skills. It is important to note that our help system will not be comprehensive, but will provide users with a jumping-off point; they will learn skills central to graphic design software as well as how to manage the unique interface of Adobe Photoshop Elements.

For more detailed answers to these questions, please refer to Dr Stiller's First Visit.