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User ModelingLecture # 7

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User Interface Design Process

NeedsAssessment

Competitive Analysis

PersonaDevelop

Task Analysis/Use Cases

MockDesign

WorkflowDesign

ConceptualDesign

WireframeDesign

Formative Evaluation

MockupDesign

PrototypeDesign

Requirements Development

Design

Evaluation

MockDesignSummative Evaluation

Effective User Interface

Is an interface that matches user characteristics

Enables the user to perform his or her task effectively and efficiently Thus achieving her/his intentions/goals

Is suitable for use in its intended environment

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A Design Catering to Conservative Attitudes When It Comes To Money

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A Design Catering to Fun Loving Teenagers

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A Design Catering to subdued attitudes of seniors – Colorful, but quiet

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Our First Step in UI Design Identify and Describe Our User

Users Are Everywhere

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The Challenge – Narrow Down Potential Users

• To maximize the fit between our application and the users we need to design for a very clearly defined group of users

• A design for everyone is often a design for no one

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Also: Identify Direct and Indirect Users

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Professor

Student

DirectUsers Indirect

Users

e.g., Need to support large font

Design that Ignores Secondary Users

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Should a nurse sign this document too?

Before and After ConsideringSecondary Users

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Our Goal – Identify Focal Groups

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All potential users Focal users

Criteria for Selecting Focal Groups

Select 2-3 types of users or user roles to support based on:Type and category of the application we build Its business goals and objectives Business Case

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Describing the User Persona – A Design Tool

Once the focal groups are identified, we need to describe the user

Description of the user in general terms such as All Students, Every Senior Person is not helpful It does not help us make effective design decisions

To support effective design we need to have in mind real users and envision the way they will react to a feature or design decision in our UI

A good tool to help us is User Persona

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What is a Persona?

User Persona is an instantiation of a hypothetical user

It is a description of a typical user along with stories about how s/he might use an application to meet his/her goals

It is an archetype of the user which will help guide decisions about the product and its characteristics

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Example of a User Persona

Example of User Persona

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the goal of persona is to bring the user to life and use it to design and communicate

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Use of Personas in Design

Examine a design feature in the context of our personaWill this feature meet the goals of our persona Is the feature important enough to our persona to

justify the development costsHow should the feature be characterized to

provide optimal usability for our persona

Methods for Creating User Personas

Use ethnographic interviews with real peopleImmersive observation and direct 1:1 interviews

Focus on what users know and capable of achievingGather indirect information from marketing, sales, and

technical support peopleThey have a good understanding of who are the users and

what capabilities they poses

Make sure their information is current

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Content of User Persona

User Persona includes in its descriptionNameRole and job titleDescription of relevant goals, motivations, pain pointsQuotes and stories in the person language Relevant demographic informationUser characteristicsDescription of primary activities

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Design Questions for a Persona

Persona should inform the designer about:Specific knowledge they have of our application

E.g. Would the term “Enter” be meaningful to themDomain knowledge

E.g. Credit vs. DebitHow often will they use our application

E.g. Once a monthWhere will they be when using the application

E.g. Outside the bankWhat expectations they have when using our application

E.g. Can take out unlimited amount of moneyAll of the above help us anticipate the characteristics of the

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Guidelines for Creating Persona

Focus on behavioral pattern, not job description

Keep persona set small

Focus on the user not the buyer (of the application)

Add life to persona

Use the right goals

Persona must be specific to the design problem

Kim Goodwin; http://www.uie.com/articles/perfecting_personas

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@ Focus on Behavioral Pattern Not Job Description

It is a narrative that describes the flow of someone’s day

It includes a description of their skills, attitude, and environment

It helps answer questions about job description, not specific tasks - e.g., are people multitasking, are there lots of interruptions

Sometimes for a given job we need several personas e.g., an experienced user and a novice one. This is because skill level here makes a big difference

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@ Keep Persona Set Small

The goal of persona is to provide context for decision

Too many personas will impose a memory load and reduce their effectiveness

Limit the number of personas to distinct behavioral patterns, not demographic E.G., A manager and an employee will have

different behavioral patterns when it comes to CRM, but probably not for email

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@ Focus on the User not the Buyer

Marketing people focus on people that bring in most money or a growing segment of the population

Design needs to focus on the people that will use the application, not those that will buy itE.G., in commercial setting the buyer and

therefore the target of Marketing is the executive.The user is the technician

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@ Add Life to Persona

Focus on goals, behavior patterns, environment, and attitudes first

Than add a few personal details to reinforce the persona characteristics

Remember Persona is first a design tool

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@ Use the Right Goals

Each persona should include 3-4 goals

Goals are things users want to accomplish tasks are the way to accomplish goals

Select goals that are related to or will help the design

Thus goals should be with respect of what an end user would like to get out using the tool – Outcome

E.G., Passengers do not want a boarding pass;They want to get home

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@ Make Persona Unique to a Design Problem

We can not use persona that was created for a different domain.

Within each domain personas will have different goals and different behavioral patterns

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Benefits of Using Personas

Help understand the users - who they are, what do they know about our tasks help design the product

Clarifies assumptions - use scenarios help team members share and formalize assumptions about users and usage

Fully explore the design - use scenarios help explore important aspects of the design

Provide context for reviewers - when trying to evaluate the design

Example of Relevant User Information

Check In KioskUsers’ goals – e.g. Get home fastUsers’ Characteristics – e.g. Limited

language skills, forgetful (I don’t know my flight number), uptight, etc.

Usage environment– e.g. Standing vs. sitting, heavy bag on shoulder, infrequent use

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Value of Creating PersonaAllow us to find out what we do not know about our users

Limits the set of tasks and jobs that we need to analyze

Help specify the types of usability goals we should establish for the applications

Will impact UI design via the usability goals

Constrain and direct the selection of users types for usability evaluation

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In Summery - We Create Personas

Help us understand why our users are not us.

It is not for-us-by-us

Identify and prioritize features and functionality

Identify users for testing

Understanding users is critical to getting value out of SW

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