Target Audience & Creating a sense of Community

One key aspect of this whole brief that up until now I hadn't fully considered was my target audience, this is especially important since my decisions for the app needs to have a solid basis.

My main target audience I would say is roughly 15-65, this was based upon the fact that this age range encapsulates pretty much everyone who will be using the app not necessarily who will be using NSB as a whole. But this audience is very broad and everyone within it will have different specific needs so i decided to break it down into sections. Most teenagers and young adults that use it will likely be proficient in using the app considering they grew up and been nurtured by technology the majority of their life. 

Those in their early 40's and onwards may or may not be used to technology, a mobile phone or even apps on a smartphone so I thought that this is where my main focus for the app should be concentrated. Making the app approachable and useable for those who aren't familiar with it will hopefully create more loyal and consistent users that you wouldn't typically have with other apps.

This sparked off an idea to creating something of a personal assistant within the app, having it as something useful to fulfil the individual needs of the user, rather than just a partially obsolete app where u may occasionally check times and buy tickets from. Because often if apps are confusing, hard work or just all round tedious people will revert to the old ways of purchasing tickets from the station vendors when they arrive there.

Considering my main value for NSB was to create a sense of community and for NSB to be involved within it, I noted down what it meant to be part of one from both my experience and others'.

The main point I took from it was this idea of exchange between the people within the community, often consumerism is a constant one way stream with odd bit of discounts and such every now and then, but these are often general and not personal to the individual consumer.

I want to incorporate a personal touch to the app meaning that it makes the user feel more comfortable using an app that is catered to them, their needs and their preferences.

I think that what makes a company more than just a constant product churning factory is creating a sense of something bigger than just you being a consumer, buying their products year in year out and ultimately becoming a slave to their ways. Instead it means giving back to your community in more ways than one, a good example of this is Apple. They are known for being generous in terms of charity donations but also getting involved with schools and even making their employees feel like part of a family by looking after them well.