Personas

Personas

• You have done research into who would like to use your site. Now you know.

• So you are designing a web site for a certain type of user, or a handful of different types of users.

• At this point you develop Personas.• A Persona is a profile of a typical user.

Sometimes called User Models or User Profiles

Personas

• Made up from a series of interviews with real people.

• Can be a real person you came across during data gathering

• Includes:– A name– A social history– A set of goals that drive the design of the site

Arthur

• Age 26• Occupation: Teacher• Married, one child• Technical profile: Uncomfortable with

technology. Has Apple Mac, broadband wifi connection.

• Internet: 4-6 hours a week, mainly entertainment & shopping

• Wants to turn his hobby of making furniture into a business

Personas

• By looking at the goals of a single persona, designers try to satisfy the needs of many users who have similar goals.

• Even more effective when there is a group of personas. Can then aim to satisfy a greater number of users.

• Seems counter-intuitive, but those who use it say it's very effective

• A relatively inexpensive technique

Personas

• Sometimes you analyse data on site users and find they all have different goals and backgrounds. Sometimes this can be boiled down into a small number of personas.

• Design team can think more clearly with concrete characters: "If you design it like that, what happens when Grandma tries to use it?"

A Typical Persona Contains:

• A Name• A picture• Age• Occupation• Gender• Education• Family• Hobbies• Disabilities if any

• Type of computer• Internet connection• Browser• Feelings about privacy• Design tastes• Goals• Reasons for using your

site

Personas

• For each persona, describe what they will do on your site, and why it's important to them.

• If you can't think of a compelling reason why they would visit your site instead of doing something else, they probably won't!

• Try and produce at least three personas for your site

Now You!!

• You all know Napier University's web site.

• Write down a persona for a potential user

• What does the persona need, that they get from this site?

• (5 mins)

When to use Personas

• Most useful when based on actual data about real users

• Data on real users may be based on surveys, interviews, focus groups or ethnography (= observation of workplaces)

• Most useful when context is a major factor (e.g. work environment)

Use of Personas

• It is good to design for everybody, but sooner or later you will need to optimise on one or more user groups.

• You will need to make trade-off between quality and cost.

• Will it be a general purpose design or will it be especially attractive to certain groups?

• Is the visual style of the site for children, or geeks, or women?

When to use Personas

• You must decide on who you are not going to please. This decision needs to be documented. Try and keep this segment small (< 2%)

Audience Splitting

• Having identified your personas, it may be too difficult to satisfy their needs using on web site. In this case, many designers try audience splitting.

• For example, on a university web site, the users will be prospective students, current students, staff and alumni. All have wildly different needs... So you split them off in different directions at the front page.

Examples of non-targeted sites

• Google• Yahoo• Altavista• CNN• MSNBC• The Washington Post• ....these sites are for everybody.

Examples of targeted sites

• The association for Information Systems, www.aisnet.org

• Hilary Thacker, www.hilarysbazaar.com

• The Scottish Storytelling centre, http://www.scottishstorytellingcentre.co.uk/

Researchers, teachers & students of information systems

Students, teachers and performers of belly dancing

Storytellers, those wanting to hire a storyteller, people who like listening to stories

Product Design

• In the old days, people designed good products and other people came and bought them... Or they didn't.

• Nowadays there must be a business plan before a product is designed and manufactured.

• The business plan lists target users• A web site is a product.

Video

• (video on persona development, followed by "what have you just seen")

Sources• Benyon, D., Turner, P., and Turner, S. (2005)

Designing Interactive Systems, Addison Wesley, Harlow, UK.

• Brinck, T., Gergle, D., and Wood, S. T. (2002) Usability for the Web: Designing Web Sites that Work, Morgan Kaufmann, San Francisco, USA

• Garrett, J.J, (2003) The Elements of User Experience: User-Centred Design for the Web, New Riders, Indianapolis, USA.

• Lazar, J., (2001) User Centred Web Development, Jones and Bartlett, Sudbury, USA