Sample Teach — Personas

A 20 minute lecture on the topic of Personas.
Given at the General Assembly as a sample teach.

@GA deck shell and template used.

Transcript

1. UNDERSTANDING USERS PERSONAS
2. UNDERSTANDING USERS PERSONAS
3. USER EXPERIENCE DESIGN 3 1. Foundation and Process 2. User Research & Strategy 1. User Research & Personas 2. Design Skills 3. Sketching Workshop 4. Business Analysis & Product Management 3. Structure 4. Documentation 5. Design Patterns 6. Portfolio & Presentation
4. USER EXPERIENCE DESIGN 4 1. Foundation and Process 2. User Research & Strategy 1. User Research & Personas 2. Design Skills 3. Sketching Workshop 4. Business Analysis & Product Management 3. Structure 4. Documentation 5. Design Patterns 6. Portfolio & Presentation
5. INTRO USER CENTERED DESIGN 5 ‣ UCD introduced by Don Norman in 1986 in his book
 The Design of Everyday Things ‣ uses the term "user-centered design" to describe design based on the needs of the user ‣ aesthetics are secondary issues http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User-centered_design#Analysis_tools_used_in_user-centered_design
6. PERSONAS CONTEXT “I think we should do this…” vs “Our user A, would think this…” 6 DECISIONS ARE JUSTIFIED BASED ON PERSONAL PREFERENCE AND OPINION. PERSONAS GIVE THE USER A VOICE.
7. PERSONAS WHAT ARE PERSONAS? ‣ Fictional character representative of a unique group of users (who share common goals). ‣ Created by conducting user research and summarizing trends into one or more archetypes. ‣ Analysis tools used in user-centered design
 (personas, scenarios, and essential use cases). 7
8. PERSONAS THE INVENTION OF PERSONAS ‣ Alan Cooper in 1999, The Inmates Are Running the Asylum. ‣ The goal was to give designers focus and to make users seem more like real people. 8
9. PERSONAS ‣ To create empathy and motivation for the team. ‣ Personas do this by allowing us to connect emotionally with other individuals rather than abstract collections such as “users” or “SingleTicketPurchasers” 9 PRIMARY GOAL
10. PERSONAS ‣ Communication tool. ‣ Useful for summarizing what you know about your user. ‣ Will help to highlight pain points and opportunities to tailor your product to your user ‣ Keep your product focused on your key users rather than building for the whole world. 10 WHY ARE PERSONAS IMPORTANT?
11. PRODUCT MANAGEMENT HOW TO CRAFT A PERSONA
12. HOW TO CRAFT A PERSONA ‣ Root it in reality. Based on the data you’ve gathered, not your imagination. ‣ Goals / Needs ‣ Behaviors ‣ Biographical information (name, photo, age, gender, location, income, etc) ‣ Optionally assign it personality traits (again, based on your research) 12 WHAT SHOULD IT INCLUDE? › MAKING PERSONAS ACTUALLY USEFUL
14. HOW TO CRAFT A PERSONA ‣ Are short stories about a person using your product to achieve a goal. ‣ Describes what they would do and why they would do it ‣ Independent of interface ‣ Gives the context in which its used 14 SCENARIOS
15. HOW TO CRAFT A PERSONA ‣ …about personas, not roles ‣ In the third person
 persona[:role]> <performs a task>[so that<un-obvious goal>] ‣ By UX specialists in collaboration with business analysts ‣ After user research and rough design 15 SCENARIOS ARE WRITTEN http://interactions.acm.org/archive/view/november-december-2013/user-stories-dont-help-users-Introducing-persona-stories
16. David is a return visitor. He receives our weekly email newsletter with tips on using new features on Monday morning at 10AM, immediately after his status meeting at the office. He clicks through from his Android phone. He has time to read a single blog post before his next meeting. http://www.nngroup.com/articles/analytics-persona-segment/ EXAMPLE
17. HOW TO CRAFT A PERSONA 17
18. HOW TO CRAFT A PERSONA 18
19. HOW TO CRAFT A PERSONA 19
20. UNDERSTANDING USERS CHALLENGES OF PERSONAS
21. CHALLENGES OF PERSONAS WHAT ARE SOME CHALLENGES OF USING PERSONAS? ‣ They can be artificial / abstract / fictitious ‣ They are a composite sketch of 10 people all rolled into 1 ‣ They don’t have opinions ‣ They can’t talk back, answer questions, or give feedback 21
22. PERSONAS CREATE YOUR OWN PERSONA
23. CREATE YOUR OWN PERSONA ‣ Go to http://bit.ly/ga-personas-1 ‣ You’re creating a set of personas for Amazon’s site redesign ‣ Using the data from this user research, try to extract trends and develop 2-3 personas ‣ Be ready to share! 23 TASK
24. EXPAND THE KNOWLEDGE ‣ The Persona Lifecycle: A Field Guide for Interaction Designers, by John Pruitt and Tamara Adli ‣ http://www.nngroup.com/articles/analytics-persona-segment/ ‣ http://mrjoe.uk/personas-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/ ‣ http://www.nngroup.com/articles/ecommerce-shoppers/ ‣ http://goo.gl/2ly3dk ‣ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User-centered_design 24 RESOURCES