Ch10-Personas.pdf

Introduction to Personas

1

Personas

• Informally developed by Alan Cooper in the early 1980s
as a way to internalize the mindset of people who
would eventually use a software.
– “The persona is a powerful, multipurpose design tool that

helps overcome several problems that currently plague the
development of digital products.” (Cooper, 1998)

• Helps model, summarize and communicate research
about people who have been observed or researched
in some way.

• Archetypal representations of audience segments, or
user types.
– Depicted as a specific person but is not a real individual;

rather, it is synthesized from observations of many people.

2

Personas (2)

• Describe user characteristics that lead to
different collections of needs and behaviors.

• Enables the designer to focus on a
manageable and memorable cast of
characters, instead of focusing on thousands
of individuals.

3

Personas: Example

4

As Design

• Personas help designers:
1. Determine what a product should do and how it

should behave

2. Communicate with stakeholders, developers,
and other designers

3. Build consensus and commitment to the design.

4. Measure the design’s effectiveness

5. Contribute to other product-related efforts such
as marketing and sales plans (Cooper)

5

Components

6

How Are Personas Created

1. Interview and/or observe an adequate number of
people.

2. Find patterns in the interviewees’ responses and
actions, and use those to group similar people
together.

3. Create archetypical models of those groups, based on
the patterns found.

4. Drawing from that understanding of users and the
model of that understanding, create user-centered
designs.

5. Share those models with other team members and
stakeholders.

7

Research Methods

• Several research methods can provide data
upon which we can build user archetypes,
including
– surveys

– ethnographic research

– interviews

– contextual inquiries

– web analytics

8

• https://www.smashingma
gazine.com/2014/08/a-
closer-look-at-personas-
part-1

• http://www.ux-
lady.com/introduction-to-
user-personas/

• http://www.ux-
lady.com/diy-user-
personas/

• http://SocialXYZ.com/res
ources/persona-
template.pptx

Resources

9

https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2014/08/a-closer-look-at-personas-part-1

https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2014/08/a-closer-look-at-personas-part-1

https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2014/08/a-closer-look-at-personas-part-1

https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2014/08/a-closer-look-at-personas-part-1

https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2014/08/a-closer-look-at-personas-part-1

https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2014/08/a-closer-look-at-personas-part-1

https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2014/08/a-closer-look-at-personas-part-1

https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2014/08/a-closer-look-at-personas-part-1

https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2014/08/a-closer-look-at-personas-part-1

https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2014/08/a-closer-look-at-personas-part-1

https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2014/08/a-closer-look-at-personas-part-1

https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2014/08/a-closer-look-at-personas-part-1

https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2014/08/a-closer-look-at-personas-part-1

https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2014/08/a-closer-look-at-personas-part-1

http://www.ux-lady.com/introduction-to-user-personas/

http://www.ux-lady.com/introduction-to-user-personas/

http://www.ux-lady.com/introduction-to-user-personas/

http://www.ux-lady.com/introduction-to-user-personas/

http://www.ux-lady.com/introduction-to-user-personas/

http://www.ux-lady.com/introduction-to-user-personas/

http://www.ux-lady.com/introduction-to-user-personas/

http://www.ux-lady.com/introduction-to-user-personas/

http://www.ux-lady.com/introduction-to-user-personas/

http://www.ux-lady.com/diy-user-personas/

http://www.ux-lady.com/diy-user-personas/

http://www.ux-lady.com/diy-user-personas/

http://www.ux-lady.com/diy-user-personas/

http://www.ux-lady.com/diy-user-personas/

http://www.ux-lady.com/diy-user-personas/

http://www.ux-lady.com/diy-user-personas/

http://socialxyz.com/resources/persona-template.pptx

http://socialxyz.com/resources/persona-template.pptx

http://socialxyz.com/resources/persona-template.pptx

http://socialxyz.com/resources/persona-template.pptx

Building the Persona

• Finding information for personas from:

– Stakeholders

• Service Learning Partners

– Internet

– Someone who may fit the persona

?

10

Creating a Persona

• Minimum Requirements

– Context
• What are we building?

– Photo

– Name

– Age

– Location

– Occupation

– Biography

11

Optimal Content

• Education

• Salary

• Personal Quote

• Activities

• Technical Caps

• Social Comfort level

• Motivations

• Goals

12

Basic Personas

13

personas.xlsx

14

Advanced Personas

“I’m looking for a social game to
help me meet new friends.”