More Designing for Middle School: Talking at their level, lying over their heads

Communicating to this demographic is also about talking up to them, but at their own level. Do I contradict myself? Very well, I contradict myself.

My point is, there is a certain amount of tongue-in-cheek in communicating effectively with this age group. The most popular types of shows for middle schoolers are ones in which the authority figures are not as smart as the kids they rule over. Kids know best. Kids rule. And in these scenarios, kids make mistakes, but the mistakes are resolved by them, and they learn from them. But in the end, the constant in these shows is that the kids know best.

Kids this age are remarkably media-savvy. They’ve learned not to believe everything they see in print, and know that they are being lied to, to some degree, and that not everything the see (on the internet, and through self publishing and gossip-type blogs) in print is true. They are therefore cynical about the messages they receive in general. You have to avoid the hard sell, because they can tell a lemon when it’s just painted like a grapefruit. They won’t believe an assertion just because it is presented to them. Only facts and authenticity to back it up can convince.

This means portraying real diversity in terms of both ethnicity and gender, with imagery that is inclusive. All the kids in the images should not be of perfect weight, or glasses-free, or with perfectly coifed heads. It means being aware of real trends, not merely the broad-stroked caricatures of Goths and skaters, hip-hop and prep that marks Hollywood shorthand of the 90’s. It means trying to be real.

But at the same time, like everyone, they want to receive messages that they can believe, in an aspirational way. This leads therefore to a form of visual flattery of this age group that we see in popular television, which presents schools in a glamorous light. Even if the school is dopey, and kids rule the school, the kids are all similarly well-dressed, and the homes are all comfortably middle class, and the hallways are immaculate. This is the world as they wish and might expect it to be, never mind how it really is. And the kids who often play middle schoolers on television are often of an older age range. But kids will not call them on this. Because the actors look like the viewers want to look, and are perceived as the viewers want to be perceived. They aspire to what they see, and draw the authenticity from that perspective. Lie to me, as long as they are lies I want to believe.

From a design perspective, this often plays into using models in photo shoots who are, for example, firmly at the upper end of the demographic. The kids can look average-and to keep authenticity, ideally should not be perceived as model-types-but not truly, awkwardly, geekily average. Average, as they want to be perceived; average, as a cool standard.