[thelist] Client doesn't know his audience

[john at johnallsopp.co.uk]

Hi people

What happens when you ask a client about his/her audience for their
website and they say "I dunno, everybody"?

So many design issues hinge on knowing the audience (the whole interface
design, usability, accessibility, type of computer, language, technical
abilities, all that stuff). If the client blanks you, what then? On a site
I'm working on at the moment, I've made up my own profiles based (it can
only be) on a mixture of my own prejudices and experiences .. that can't
be good. I guess there are marketing libraries that maybe profile
audiences for particular products. But what do you do in that situation?

I'm just kinda curious because it's just struck me, many of the interface
design area texts say "you have to know your audience" and they tell you
how to profile the audience "you need their age, sex, shoe size", etc. but
they don't seem to tell you how to get the info you need before you slice
and dice.

J