Choosing the Right Photos and Illustrations Series: Target Audience

The imagery you choose can have a significant impact on your audience and message. In this series, we’ll explore what makes a photo or illustration a good fit for your  communications piece.

Target Audience

Matching the photos and illustrations to the target audience can help you gain traction for your event or program and draw in new faces who identify with what they’ve seen in the marketing materials.

There are many ways to gather information on your target audience, and finding it is an ongoing process.  Surveys, web analytics, email click rates  geographical research, or simply paying attention to who engages with your events or programs in the community are all good places to start. You may be surprised by what you find!

Once you know that information, use it to help direct the imagery in the program’s marketing materials. Ask not only who the current consumers are, but also who you want them to be.

UF/IFAS covers everyone in the state of Florida! It can be tempting to say your audience is the general public and stop there, but that is often too broad to be helpful. You may be focused on rural agricultural workers, university students completing their degree, home gardeners, landscape workers, researchers or scientists in the field, families at farmers’ markets, volunteers at food pantries, or elementary school educators. Let your images reflect them!

Use your most eye catching and audience specific photos as your key art.
A photo of a scuba diver under water sits as the main image on a Marine Scientist major informational card.

Use supporting images throughout your design. They could include:

Show a person using your service or program or being helped one on one by a member of your staff.

A family shopping for produce and talking to the owner of Frog Song Organics at a farmers market. Photo taken 09-13-21

Zoom in and show a close-up of a person enjoying your event.

A woman browsing a selection of meats at a food pantry. Photo taken 06-26-18.

Show someone with props related to your program.
4 illustrated people stand in a row: a man holding a garden trowel and watering can, a woman holding a shopping bag, a man holding a shovel and a sprayer tank, and a woman with binoculars. Illustrations adapted by Leah Welch from Adobe Stock.

Show a group shot that includes your target audience.

A group of elementary age children in life jackets and swimming clothes pose in a line for a group photo, functioning as the header for a flier titled Become a 4-H Volunteer Club Leader"

Include photos from past events.

The Master Naturalist Program is one of the fastest-growing Extension programs in Florida. Trained volunteers in this and other Extension programs provide thousands of hours of valuable assistance each year, enhancing the effectiveness of Extension outreach programs. (UF/IFAS Photo by Eric Zamora)

Add a landscape photo of your program location or product.

Farmers Ben Wells (left, in plaid) and Danny Johns (right) hold potatoes, tomatoes, and squash farmed in Hastings, Florida as part of an IFAS-sponsored Food Hub. Photo taken on 06/03/15.

Need help deciding what images you’d like to use? Your ICS Graphics team is here to help. We’re happy to make suggestions or to set up a quick chat to talk through your ideas. Find us here.

1


Posted: March 4, 2024


Category: UF/IFAS Communications, UF/IFAS Graphics



Subscribe For More Great Content

IFAS Blogs Categories