PersonasMilan UX Book Club 20.2.2014
Barbara VasiHumanist enthusiastic of the Digital world
Master in Web Journalism @ IED (2001)Editor @ Wireless (2001)
Information architect, Project manager (since 2002)
now Head of Delivery (where I learned the tricks of the trade)
Proud member of Milan UX Book Club since 2012!(where I enjoy sharing experiences and discussing User eXperience Design)
Here I Am
Why Personas
Personas are fascinating:because of their link to STORYTELLINGas a tool of “CULTURAL MEDIATION”
So I wanted to:- study Personas and why they were developed- tell about an experiment we made @ B Human- hear about what you think about the matter
The context of birth of Personas
Industrial Age
Digital Age Programmers
Designers
Apologists
Survivors
Goals
Tasks
Goals and Tasks
End-conditionStableHuman needsPractical and personal
Intermediate process to achieve the goalTransientChanging with technology
Alan Cooper, 1998
(Thought-) provokingDestructive (at first)Constructive (in its second half)(Sadly still) true
In the Industrial age the key advantage were MASS-PRODUCTION for companies and products AVAILABILITY and LOW PRICES for customers.
The Digital age has changed the rules of the game: QUALITY prevails over quantity.Using digital products entails a higher COGNITIVE FRICTION: human intellect must confront with a complex system of rules and with intangible objects.
INNOVATION is rapid and user satisfaction has a key role in long-term loyalty.
The birth of User Satisfaction
Homo logicus and homo sapiens
Humans need the BIG PICTURE while computers need DETAILS.
Programmers have to put computer needs first.
User needs are a matter for DESIGNERS.
The role of the Designer
Designers put human NEEDS and GOALS at the center of the process, and (help) make products that:- can be built- performs wellinto something PEOPLE really WANT.
Digital Product
Viability(Business)
Capability(Engineering)
Desirability(DESIGN)
ARCHITECTURE, the human design part of programming, in which:- USERS are studied- USER SCENARIOS are defined- INTERACTION is designed- FORM is determined- BEHAVIOR is described
DESIGN before building.
Architecture and Design
Interaction design
Starts from human NEEDS and GOALS.
Determines the inside of a product by describing the outside.
Provides TOOLS and METHODS for designers to avoid the risk of being self-referential in design, bringing the user’s perspectivein the process of design.
Goal-directed design
The method developed by Cooper since 1992:- novel ways of looking at problems- guiding axioms- mental tools
PERSONAS are the most effective tool.
Personas: Cooper’s Definition
A precise DESCRIPTION of the user, and what he wishes to accomplish.
Personas represent users throughout the design process.
They are hypothetical archetypes of actual users.
Personas are defined by their unique goals and allows to see the scope and nature of the design problem.Alan Cooper, The Inmates Are Running the Asylum
Personas: Mulder’s definition
A realistic CHARACTER SKETCH representing one segment of a Web site’s targeted audience, an archetype serving as a surrogate for an entire group of real people.
Personas are primarily defined by their goals. In some situations, they are also defined by their behaviors and attitudes.
Personas are grounded in research and help create a shared understanding and vision of whom you’re designing for and decide what you are creating.Steve Mulder with Ziv Yaar, The User Is Always Right
Creating personas
Research Segmentation Personas
Qualitative Personas
Qualitative research
Segmentation
Personas
-
+ Low effort, increased understanding, low skills
No quantitative evidence, existing assumptions not questioned
3-4 weeks
Qualitative Personas with Quantitative validation
-
+ Quantitative evidence, low skills
Additional effort, existing assumptions not questioned
Qualitative research
Segmentation
Personas
Test segmentation through quantitative
research6-8 weeks
Quantitative Personas
-
+ Less human bias, iterative process, more variables
Significant effort, high skills
Qualitative research
Segmentation Hypothesis
Personas
Quantitative research to gather data on
segmentation options 7-10 weeks
Segmentation based on cluster analysis
User Research
Qualitative Research for Personas
A process of discovery which focuses on WHY something is happening.It’s open-ended and reveals new things with a small sample size.It’s all about finding STORIES.
INTERVIEWS: hear from users about their goals, attitudes and behavior (5 users per segment)FIELD STUDIES: see user goals, attitudes and behaviors in actionUSABILITY TESTS: observe user behavior (but focus is more on the product than on users)
Focused on testing and proving hypothesis; it is about WHAT is happening. It helps look for patterns with a large sample size. The data gathered can help prioritize opportunities.Qualitative research requires careful planning: you get what you put in.
SURVEYS: what users say about their goals, attitudes and behaviors(min. 100 completion per segment)ANALYTICS: what users doCRM DATA ANALYSIS: what users are worth
Quantitative research for Personas
Segmentation
Segmentation consists in organizing individuals in clusters and can be considered as the art and science of finding PATTERNS and STORIES in the data.It is a collaboratory, iterative and exploratory process.
User can be segmented qualitatively by:- goals- usage life-cycle- behaviors and attitudesClusters can emerge from quantitative segmentation
Types of Personas
PRIMARY personas: the ones for whom you design; no more than 3 (Cooper), 1 or 2 (Mulder)
SECONDARY personas: important and considered in decisions about design, but not as much as the primary personas
Unimportant personas: could visit the site/use the product, but are not considered in decisions about design
Negative (excluded) personas: whom not to design for
The Elements of a Persona document
KEY DIFFERENTIATORS: make the persona uniquePHOTO: makes the persona realDESCRIPTOR added to the name and QUOTE: make the persona memorablePROFILE: where the story is told (attitudes are particularly important to define it)
Business objectives: are the explicit connection between the users in target and the business model of the company
Precision (details) MORE IMPORTANT than accuracy.
Scenario
SCENARIO: the way personas come alive.
A concise DESCRIPTION of a persona using a software-based product to achieve a GOAL (Cooper)The STORIES of how a persona interacts with a web site, their documented JOURNEY through the web site (Mulder)
Scenarios document the EXPERIENCE from the persona’s POINT OF VIEW.
Personas are the (cast of) characters of the story and scenarios are the PLOT.
DAILY-USE scenarios: main actions performed with the greatest frequencyNECESSARY-USE scenarios: all actions that must be performed with low frequencyEDGE-CASE scenarios
1 to 3 scenarios per persona.
Interaction design must provide for all scenarios, but focus on DAILY-USE ones.Breadth (from start to finish) MORE IMPORTANT than depth.
Types of Scenarios
Writing scenarios
From users to features
SCENARIOS are the tool connecting USER research to FEATURE design.
Task analysis: user’s point of viewUse cases: system’s point of view
UserResearch
Segments PERSONAS SCENARIOSTask
analysis / Use cases
Feature design
STRUCTURE design: personas can be used to define information architecture, navigation, interaction design. Through storytelling, they can be used to communicate design decisions more effectively.
CONTENT design: personas help design all types of content (i.e. instructional text, error messages, help content, multi-media) and the tone of voice.So you can provide the right content to the right persona at the right time.
VISUAL design: personas help keep the focus on WHO matters most and make the process of decision-making more OBJECTIVE.
Personas in the design life-cycle
Personas provide a FRAMEWORK for decision-making.
Personas make KNOWLEDGE about users actionable.
Personas bring OBJECTIVITY in a process where self-reference and personal opinions are a real risk.
Personas are a powerful COMMUNICATION tool, because they tap into a primal part of our brain: we all respond to STORIES.
Personas beyond User eXperience Design
Personas in Business Strategy
The ultimate goal of business strategy is making the company successful.Personas can provide the framework to create and prioritize business initiatives, for they help bridge the:
USER gap: personas integrates user needs in business strategy
COMMUNICATION gap: personas are a user-friendly interface to data
EXECUTION gap: personas are re-usable across the process
“Persona is a social role or character played by an actor”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persona
Cooper sets the analogy with the art of acting both in tools/methods and in the process:- personas as CAST of characters, scenarios as SCRIPT, METHOD ACTING as way to identify with users- 3 phases of preproduction, production and postproduction
Mulder focuses on the importance of ROLE-PLAYING: thinking about what a persona would do and act as a persona.
Personas and the art of acting
Some ideas from UX Design community
The debate on Personas
Chris Chapman, Senior Quantitative Experience Researcher @ Google:Methodological and Practical Arguments against a Popular Method
Steve Portigal, Consultant and Book author:Persona non grata
Andy Budd, co-founder and CEO @ Clearleft:Personas suck in response toJason Fried, co-founder and CEO @ BasecampPersonas?
Paul Bryan, User Experience Consultant:Are Personas still relevant to UX Strategy?
Sources and further reading
Cooper, The Inmates Are Running the Asylum
Mulder with Yaar, The User is Always Right (the book)
The User is Always Right (on slideshare)
Quesenbery, Storytelling for User Experience
Portigal, Interviewing Users
Contacts
@bibierre
it.linkedin.com/in/barbaravasi/
barbara.vasi [AT] gmail
barbara.vasi [AT] bhuman [DOT] it
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