Week Four - Research / Understanding your Audience

Research is the fundamental pillar to base ideas on to create a great work of art. By dictionary term research is referred to a diligent and systematic inquiry into a subject in order to discover or revise facts, theories or applications. It is the most essential part of problem solving as it investigates, explores and examines every single possibility that is out there. There are two different kinds of researches. One in which no data is available and everything has to be ‘researched’ or looked into from scratch which is called as the primary research, and the other one is known as the secondary research in which the researcher has all the data that he needs already available to him collected by other publications.

For my own magazine, we had to do quite a lot of research about the content, about what is suitable for the audience; what our target audience is and what they would like to see. The most important thing that we had to research was what our magazine was going to about. The topic was on ‘Birmingham’ but being such a vast topic we had to dig deep to make our magazine unique. Topics included things like what would be the best unseen places in Birmingham, about the history and culture of Birmingham that people are unaware of. We also had to use the secondary means of research such as the work of other artists, and adverts to inspire us in our own work.

An example of an illustrator that I feel inspired by is Tom Gauld. He used to publish his own comics but now most of his work is in newspapers. In an interview when he was asked about his inspirations he said, “I listen to the radio, watch tv and films, go to museums and most of all read.” He fills his sketchbooks with ideas that go through several stages before they are published. What intrigues me is that everyone has to do research, and his inspiration was Edward Gorey that influenced most of his amazing work.

Another example is the artist Paul Davis who says, “Notebook after notebook after notebook because I feel sick when I forget potentially good ideas. I don’t slack, I take photographs. I draw. I scan. I Photoshop.” The practice of illustration is to exemplify, demonstrate, clarify and elucidate text and that is exactly what Paul Davis does. All his research of people is recorded in his sketchbooks for his collection.

Paul Davis' sketchbook

Paul Davis

Research is also important to narrow down the audience. In this principle, what is being discussed is the importance of knowing and understanding your audience. There are several reasons for doing that. When you are catering to a population with such a diversity of people you do not want to socially, politically or religiously hurt or humiliate people and sometimes these can have very severe consequences. Apart from this it could also be useful in product designing if you know you audience you would know how to advertise the product to attract a large number of people to whom the product is targeted to.

The illustrator C.K.Koh understands his audience when he displayed his cartoon sketch for his anti-bullying campaign. This is targeted to a young audience and it is clear through his illustrations that the artist understands his target audience which is why he uses subtle and appealing imagery so that it could be understood by his young audience. All the artists that I have discussed so far have studied their target audiences to cater a better version of their work fit for them. Tom Gauld’s work, for example, edges on satire and ironical comedy which is why the audience is mature enough to understand the jokes and the connotations he means to portray. He has a very edgy sort of drawings with not much character, as the main focus is on the story. In the same way, C.K. Koh’s work is targeted to a younger audience and so it has to be presented in such a way that appeals their senses and he has achieved that through soft colours and cute characters. Thus research is very important especially of the target audience to mould and cater to their needs.