際際滷

際際滷Share a Scribd company logo

Milan UX Book Club: Personas

Download as PPTX, PDF
Barbara Vasi
Barbara Vasi

This document summarizes Barbara Vasi's presentation on personas at the Milan UX Book Club. It discusses the origins and purpose of personas, how they are created through user research and segmentation, and how they can be used throughout the design process to represent users and guide design decisions. Key aspects covered include defining primary and secondary personas, writing scenarios to showcase personas, and using personas to inform structure, content, visual, and business strategy design. While personas are a popular user research tool, some debate their methodology and practical application.

1 of 37
Downloaded 14 times
Personas Milan UX Book Club 20.2.2014
Barbara Vasi Humanist 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 STORYTELLING as 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-condition Stable Human needs Practical and personal Intermediate process to achieve the goal Transient Changing with technology
Alan Cooper, 1998 (Thought-) provoking Destructive (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 well into 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 users perspective in 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: Coopers 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: Mulders definition A realistic CHARACTER SKETCH representing one segment of a Web sites 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 youre 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 research 6-8 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. Its open-ended and reveals new things with a small sample size. Its 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 action USABILITY 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 do CRM 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 attitudes Clusters 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
Milan UX Book Club: Personas
The Elements of a Persona document KEY DIFFERENTIATORS: make the persona unique PHOTO: makes the persona real DESCRIPTOR added to the name and QUOTE: make the persona memorable PROFILE: 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 personas 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 frequency NECESSARY-USE scenarios: all actions that must be performed with low frequency EDGE-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: users point of view Use cases: systems point of view User Research Segments PERSONAS SCENARIOS Task 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 to Jason Fried, co-founder and CEO @ Basecamp Personas? 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

More Related Content

Milan UX Book Club: Personas

  • 1. Personas Milan UX Book Club 20.2.2014
  • 2. Barbara Vasi Humanist 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
  • 3. Why Personas Personas are fascinating: because of their link to STORYTELLING as 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
  • 4. The context of birth of Personas Industrial Age Digital Age Programmers Designers Apologists Survivors Goals Tasks
  • 5. Goals and Tasks End-condition Stable Human needs Practical and personal Intermediate process to achieve the goal Transient Changing with technology
  • 6. Alan Cooper, 1998 (Thought-) provoking Destructive (at first) Constructive (in its second half) (Sadly still) true
  • 7. 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
  • 8. 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.
  • 9. 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 well into something PEOPLE really WANT. Digital Product Viability (Business) Capability (Engineering) Desirability (DESIGN)
  • 10. 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
  • 11. 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 users perspective in the process of design.
  • 12. 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.
  • 13. Personas: Coopers 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
  • 14. Personas: Mulders definition A realistic CHARACTER SKETCH representing one segment of a Web sites 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 youre designing for and decide what you are creating. Steve Mulder with Ziv Yaar, The User Is Always Right
  • 16. Qualitative Personas Qualitative research Segmentation Personas - + Low effort, increased understanding, low skills No quantitative evidence, existing assumptions not questioned 3-4 weeks
  • 17. Qualitative Personas with Quantitative validation - + Quantitative evidence, low skills Additional effort, existing assumptions not questioned Qualitative research Segmentation Personas Test segmentation through quantitative research 6-8 weeks
  • 18. 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
  • 20. Qualitative Research for Personas A process of discovery which focuses on WHY something is happening. Its open-ended and reveals new things with a small sample size. Its 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 action USABILITY TESTS: observe user behavior (but focus is more on the product than on users)
  • 21. 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 do CRM DATA ANALYSIS: what users are worth Quantitative research for Personas
  • 22. 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 attitudes Clusters can emerge from quantitative segmentation
  • 23. 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
  • 25. The Elements of a Persona document KEY DIFFERENTIATORS: make the persona unique PHOTO: makes the persona real DESCRIPTOR added to the name and QUOTE: make the persona memorable PROFILE: 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.
  • 26. 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 personas POINT OF VIEW. Personas are the (cast of) characters of the story and scenarios are the PLOT.
  • 27. DAILY-USE scenarios: main actions performed with the greatest frequency NECESSARY-USE scenarios: all actions that must be performed with low frequency EDGE-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
  • 29. From users to features SCENARIOS are the tool connecting USER research to FEATURE design. Task analysis: users point of view Use cases: systems point of view User Research Segments PERSONAS SCENARIOS Task analysis / Use cases Feature design
  • 30. 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
  • 31. 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
  • 32. 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
  • 33. 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
  • 34. Some ideas from UX Design community
  • 35. 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 to Jason Fried, co-founder and CEO @ Basecamp Personas? Paul Bryan, User Experience Consultant: Are Personas still relevant to UX Strategy?
  • 36. 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

Editor's Notes

  • #7: Alan Cooper nasce come programmatore. Descrive la categoria, e un intero settore produttivo, senza fare sconti a nessuno. Ancora molto attuale: raccontare lesempio del responsabile della sicurezza in Unicredit.
  • #11: Parallelo con larchitettura nella sua definizione pi湛 classica, anche se Cooper paragona un prodotto software a un ponte, pi湛 che a un edificio