personas, design monday presentation

Personas

Design MONDAY

Why personas?

«  the persona method is a defence against automated thinking. »

!Lene Nielsen

http://www.interaction-design.org/encyclopedia/personas.html

«  A tool for empathy » !

A random empathic designer

«  ROI 4 times higher » !

Forrester Research

Persona Meaning Mask in Latin

Persona (one of) Alan Cooper definition(s) :

« Personas are composite archetypes based on behavioral data gathered from the many actual users encountered in

ethnographic interviews. »

Archetype ≠

Stereotype

Behavioral data

Listen mostly to albums

Listen mostly to playlists

Email to friends

Share publicly

Listen with friends Listen alone

« Composite characters »

Averaging

Compositing

Goal-oriented personas

Collect music, consider

music as art

Have fun, party.

Listen for the mood, the

effect.

Share music to keep in

contact, send as a present.

Reputation, public profile.

Have a good companion.

Goal-oriented personas

Collect music, consider

music as art

Have fun, party.

Listen for the mood, the

effect.

Share music to keep in contact, send as a

present.

Reputation, public profile.

Have a good companion.

Goal-oriented personas

Collect music, consider music as art

Have fun, party.

Listen for the mood, the effect.Share music to keep in contact, send as a present.

Reputation, public profile.

Have a good companion.

Jack Serious listener

Michele Social listener

Primary persona Secondary persona

« a useful abstraction. »

The purpose is to move from designers seeing the user as a

stereotype with whom they are unable to identify and whose life they cannot envision, to

designers actively involving themselves in the lives of the

personas. !!

Nielsen, Lene (2013)

The engaging perspective

■ What do I need to know about the context of my characters? ■ Do I understand their culture? ■ Do I understand the rhythms, the beliefs, the attitudes that are part of that culture? ■ Have I met, talked to, and spent time with people in that culture? ■ Do I understand ways that they are similar to, and different from the way I am? !Linda Seger in “Creating Unforgettable Characters.” !

Personas as Characters

If we want to engage with personas, they need to be credible

Personas as Characters

“Finding the backstory is a process of discovery. The writer needs to work back and forth constantly—asking questions about the past to further understand the present. This process continues throughout the writing of the story. Backstory continually enriches, expands, and deepens the character. It is often the key to creating a credible character.” !Linda Seger in “Creating Unforgettable Characters.”

« The problem is the tendency to regard personas as untouchable

because of all of the work that went into creating them. »

Proto-personas Jeff Gothelf, in Lean UX

Proto-personas Jeff Gothelf, in Lean UX

Assumptions (Proto) personas BUILD LEARN

Short iterations

A Compromise?

Research personas BUILD LEARN

Short iterations

Not considering the interviews a finished step, go back to the users, refine the personas based on the real product test

Thanks !

Nicholas Mandelbaum !

Designer at Imaginary Cloud !

nmandelbaum@imaginarycloud.com @nikoluzzi

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