The concept generation process was started by first defining a specific target audience. Defining a relevant audience is very important to the success of the project as it affects the direction in which the outcome is taken. To accurately define the audience I created a survey which was disseminated via online resources.
SURVEY
When generating the survey I wanted to create a set of questions that helped me to not only define a specific target audience, but also to help me outline peoples views and opinions on the importance of skateboarding history, my initial focus for the website. Asking questions regarding peoples opinions on skateboarding history will allow me to see if my initial focus is interesting, and something that the audience would want to engage with. Furthermore, I also created questions that focused specifically on finding out if participants of the survey find illustrative, skateboard style graphics appealing. The results from the survey will be analysed and used to define a specific audience, focus and relevant aesthetic theme.
When writing the questions I specifically simplified them and applied terminology suited for the young audience that could be interacting with it.
SURVEY QUESTIONS;
- How old are you?
- When did you start skateboarding?
- Do you visit skateboarding websites? if answered yes, how often?
- Do you think knowing about the history of skateboarding is important?
- What are your feelings about the history of skateboarding?
- Do you think knowing about how the sport started is important?
- Do you think that skateboard graphics are appealing?
- Would you be more likely to look through with a website if it had skateboarding style graphics?
RESULTS -
The results shown below visually represent data collected from only some of the questions, as others required a written answer and therefore cannot be visualized in the same way. Important information taken from the written response questions has been displayed below the specific chart.
How long have you been skateboarding? (if you don't list the number of years you have been interested in the sport.
- 12 years
- 4 years
- dont skate interested in the sport though
- 3 years
- 3 years
- 7 years
- 6 months.
- 9 year
- I don't skate myself, but it's sparked my attention in the last few years, started off with skateboarding shorts, eg Redbull's 'Perspective'
- On and off for 4-5 years
- 7 years
- 6 years
- 8years
- 10 years
- since i was 8... on and off though...
- I dont.
- 12-13 years
- 10 years
- Started when I was about 13 till I was about 16 full on, been on and off since then.
- I've been interest for 7 or 8 years
- 6 years
- 3 years
- skateing for 4 years
- 1 year and 1/2
The question featured offered participants an option to add further information below their response allowing me to analyse the amount of times the participant visits skateboarding websites.
- occasinoally
- not that often
- often
- couple of times a month
- weekly
- skateboarding related eg clothing everyday, watching videos once a week
- everyday
- every so often
- Weekly
- Once every few months
- skateboard videos
- everyday
- 4/5 times a week
- Weekly check of the Berrics
- Very
- errryy day
- everyday!
Additional comments;
- if you are interested in the sport then yes
- Influences skating in so many ways, its important to know!
- not really, can be
- It's good to know but isn't important, it's interesting to know if anything
- Depending on who it is, it will be important to some, but definitely interesting!
- im not that knowledgable on the history tbh
Additional comments;
- Not necessarily, for example, if someone was just starting out knowing the history wouldn't be overly important
- It is and it isn't depends how serious you are taking the sport
- To skateboarders definitely and to people who frown upon it.
- helps people who are new understand that its tough at first. its not a basic instinct to be able to roll on four wheels on a plank, and do loads of other mad shit too. thats why skateboarding was so basic at first
What are your feelings about the history of skateboarding?
- Its important to know where the sport originated from and how it still effects the spot today.
- dont know much about it, would like to know more.
- Important to know and interesting
- dont know much about it, should probably know more
- Know it, know your roots
- weird and rapid progression from nothing to something
- its sick but its history!
- I don't know much about it, likely because I don't skate but I think it's be pretty interesting to find out.
- The history of skateboarding shows the true creativity and independence of what skateboarding is about, with guys inventing tricks that have never been done before and pioneering what is now one of the most well known extreme sports in the world.
- important as looking at the past and gaining inspiration from it helps the progression of the sport
- purple
- History is important! Its the start point of skating! Without it all these tricks wouldn't be around now.
- I would like to know what different styles came from different parts of the world...
- I find it interesting
- the 80s were a stupid era.
- Super awesome
- I think how it has progressed from what it first was to how it is now really shows that it's not just a sport that teenagers get involved in for fun, but it's something that is pioneering, adventurous and genius. Jumping down sets of stairs on a piece of wood with four wheels and making that look cool is pretty fascinating.
- Dog Town and Z-Boys is top notch viewing.
- Pretty cool how it all came from surfing, not a lot of people know that
- Doesnt interest me
- It's interesting and passionate
- amazing how it has dramatically changed and developed into more street skating.
- Knowing your roots is important! Skateboarding history also continues to influence the sport today.
- its good to know where the sport came from.
Additional comments;
- Some of them.
- skateboard graphics are appealing, check that dude jimbo phillips who got his designs ripped off by jeremy scott. must show they are worth ripping off no?
Additional comments;
- depends on the content
- how are skateboard style graphics different to other graphics/art?
- Depends what the website is about but mostly yes
- Definitely, appealing/well made design can be the one factor that even allows non-skaters to indulge in a skate-related site better
- maybe more bothered about the price
ANALYZING THE DATA -
After collecting the results from my survey I looked over the results and analysed the data, the aim of this process is to see what conclusions I can make about the participants of the survey to help me define a specific audience and purpose and aesthetic theme.
The data offered some fascinating insights, most of which were taken from the additional comments section which allowed me to take some first hand opinions from the participants of the survey.
- Majority of the audience are aged from 16-30, this is a large age-range for a target audience and will therefore need further defining before I write my concept.
- The majority of the people who took part in the survey have (on average) been skating for a number of year, this indicates that the majority of survey participants are skateboarders themselves.
- Results from the website visiting question evidence that of the survey participants people interact with skateboarding websites regularly, with some people frequenting them on a daily basis. The results from this question are useful as it shows that members the audience would visit my proposed site regularly.
- The questions regarding the important of skateboarding history and what people feel about it indicate that knowing the history is important if your a skateboarder, however if you are not then it holds little importance. Moreover, participants of the survey highlighted the fact that skateboarding history is interesting, however at the end of the day it is history, so would need to be presented in an engaging way for people to interact with the information.
- Finally, there were overwhelming results that evidence that the survey participants not only find skateboarding style graphics and illustrations appealing, but would also be more likely to interact with a website that applied a rough, skateboard themed illustrative aesthetic.
CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT
After analyzing the results taken from the survey I felt I was informed enough to start outlining the specifics of my concept.
AUDIENCE -
Firstly, the audience of my website will consist of young skateboarders between the ages of 16 and 24 years old. The young audience outlined was selected because results from my survey indicated that the sport is most popular with an older teen/young adult audience. Additionally, the website will not be aimed at any 16-24 year olds, but specifically skateboarders or people with a keen interested in the sport. I want to focus on an audience with an already established interest in skateboarding as the sites content will contain information specific to skateboarding history, a dull subject if the viewer lacks interest in the sport.
PURPOSE -
The purpose of my site will be to provide people interested in skateboarding with information about the history of the sport. As the results from my survey show, knowing about skateboarding history is important if you are a skateboarder as it not only gives many aspects of the spot context, but also continues to affect the ticks and styles practiced in the sport today. My outcome will combine rough hand-rendered illustrations with information specific to definitive points in the sports history, to provide the audience with a platform of engaging, easy to digest information. Through the digestion of information the website will allow users to expand their knowledge of the sport and understand how and why the sport evolved to its current, modern state.
CONTENT-
To successfully communicate information regarding skateboarding history to the audience, the site will need to render all information in an easy to digest and visually engaging way. As the results from my survey show, knowing about skateboarding history is important, however the topic is information heavy and often unengaging for the audience. Therefore, to successfully communicate the information the site will need an illustration heavy timeline with small snippets of focused, supporting information.
The timeline will feature information on important, definitive parts of skateboarding history such as;
- The evolution of the skateboard.
- Invention of new parts (trucks, wheels etc.)
- Historic events (competitions, trick inventions)
- Legendary skate teams (Z-Boys & Bones Brigade).
The website will also include an introductory homepage, about page, blog of skateboard history related images and a list of the sources used to form the content.
FORM -
The website will be responsive to ensure that the content can be accessed from multiple devices such as mobile phones, tablets and computers. The accessibility of information is important as results from my survey indicate that skateboarding websites are regularly accessed. Additionally, in a modern society where a range of devices are regularly used to access internet based information the site will need to be responsive to ensure that the content can always be assessed. Finally, To communicate the timeline information in the most effective way it will be placed on a continuous scrolling webpage, allowing users to continuously browse through information without clicking through a series of different web pages.
WHAT WILL IT ACHIEVE? -
The site will inform and educate the audience about the importance of skateboarding history
and why it is still relevant today. Furthermore, the website will act as an educational platform informing the audience about definitive aspects of skateboarding history. To communicate the historical information in an audience appropriate way the timeline will predominantly rely on illustrations to visualize events, using small amounts of supporting information to give the images context.
WHY? -
The results analysed from my survey indicate that for skateboarders an understanding of the sports history is important, as not only does it gives various aspects of the sport context, it is also key to understanding the current state of the sport today.
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