Personas at The Team by Angel Brown

SERIOUSPersona development

12 May 2009 - Angel Brown

Persona creation


Personas • What are they• Persona creation process• Explanation of axes• Persona examples• Persona-segmentation mapping


Personas – what are they?

• Hypothetical, archetypal user characters, defined in detail• Not stereotypes• They have names and faces.

The whole team can picture them• Defined by their behavioural

and attitudinal differences• Behaviours and attitudes

influenced by their motivations• Not market segmentation


Personas help…

reduce the effects of the ‘elastic user’ – when team members use their own beliefs and opinions to represent the user


Personas help…

encourage empathy for the user throughout the project team, helping to inform and validate design solutions and business decisions


The context of personas in User-Centred Design

Specify the system behaviour

Personas Scenarios User journeys Scamps

Prototypes & testing

Detailed design

Specification

Model your users

Model the ideal experience

Model the product/service-to-people interactions

Model the interface in detailTest prototypes with real users

Specify the interface design

Build the product/service


Persona creation

We create personas using the Cooper methodology (About Face 2.0 The Essentials of Interaction Design 2003). This methodology provides a repeatable framework for persona development.

Define axes Identify patternsMap data into columns by user

Develop personas from emerging groupings of patterns

Create hypothesis for axes

Observational research of product or service interaction

Scenarios, user journeys, prototypes, visions for the future, training


Make hypotheses on axes

For example

Attitudes to technologyKnowledge of curriculumTechnology comfortTech skill gapSocial softwareeSafetyRelationship with school


Map users to concepts

ConceptsUsers


Plotting users on axes


Identify patterns in respondents


Axes

Behavioural and attitudinal axes indicate how they differ form other personas


Create persona


Persona elements

Full name

Quote

Realistic picture


Narrative

Realistic, evidence-based narrative

description helps to bring personas to life


Goals

Life goals – what they want out of life

Experience goals – How they want to feel through using products or services

End goals – what they want to achieve


Persona collage example


• Segments are usually the result of quantitative research whilst personas come out of qualitative observational and interaction research

• Their relationship is one of co-informing and co-validating

• The persona process allows new themes to emerge through the depth of its open process

• The segmentation process provides reliability

• Personas can map to segments

Personas can be mapped to segments


Segment 1Learning first, technology second

Diane believes learning is important but also thinks technology is part of the future. She does not have enough time to find out the detail of what goes on in schools.

Learning is of high importance to Sally and she will do all she can to push her child and the school to deliver the best education.

Jerry, of course, believes learning is important but does not feel he needs to be that involved in the process.

Segment 2Switched on but too busy to stop

Whilst Diane feels like she does not have the time, she does not feel ‘switched on’ either. She has too many responsibilities.

Sally makes the time and is not driven to find out about the latest technologies.

Jerry knows how to find the information he needs, in that sense he is ‘switched on’, however, he tends to help out on fun activities.

Segment 3Middle of the road

Diane puts her faith in the system so shares the behaviour of this group in that they are defined by their lack of strong characteristics.

Sally has too much drive to map to this segment.

In his complacency, Jerry shares characteristics with this segment as his drive is to sustain the ‘normal’ life he has achieved.

Segment 4Well-off supporters

Diane does not feel the confidence of this segment. She may be comfortable but she worries she is doing all she should.

Sally is engaged with technology. She has values which map to this segment even if her income level does not match.

With his aspirations firmly in his past, Jerry is now in this segment.

Segment 5Unplugged and disadvantaged

Diane is not very engaged with technology. Leaving school at 16 means she been brought up with more disadvantages than most.

She sees herself as very different from this segment in terms of drive for her children’s future.

Some members of his family would fall into this segment.

Segmentation models

Sally NicholsDiane Rowe Jerry EllisMaps somewhat positively

Maps positively

Maps very positively

Strength of mapping

Segmentation mapping


• Personas are intimately tied to their interfaces

• Where strategic goals require a change or the addition of a new interface, a persona reevaluation will be required

• They can be refined by follow up user research and/or survey strategies

Persona lifecycle