A conversation at minibar got me thinking about a set of designs which I did for dating sites. Each site was targeted at a different user demographic. These designs provide a nice example of designing for different audiences as each home page had to contain the same elements, yet most of the designs differ significantly from the others. They are also interesting for a couple of other reasons: very short turnaround time and the allowance of one image purchase per site, from a well known budget priced image library.

The audiences are:

• toyboyboutique – Older women seeking younger men
• sugardaddyboutique – Younger women seeking older men
• upforanything – Guys seeking girls
• Cheekymatch – Guys and girls
• Naughtyflirts – Girls seeking guys
• sixtiesplussingles – 60s and over
• adultplayuk – Guys seeking girls

The 3 sites specifically targeting girls featured subtly imagery, perhaps gently suggestive. In contrast Up for anything uses an image, which leaves little doubt about what’s going on. Cheekmatch went through a couple of designs before arriving at the layout, which simply made use of images of people who’ve registered with the site (the images in the mock ups are not people who are actually on any of these sites). Instead, the cheeky logo and dark colour of the site convey the message that this is a rather naughty site to be visiting. Sixties plus had to be the least racy of all, to the point of not being racy at all, and also had to convey youthfulness. The image of two couples enjoying meal seemed to fit the bill perfectly.

Tags:

• Web design