As the book reminds us - WE ARE NOT THE USER. That may be especially hard for us to remember, since the users for our projects are most likely college students.
Personas have been an important component of user-centered design for many years. Designers disagree about the level of formality (you'll see examples in the readings), but they all agree that the user must be central to any design process. We will use a fairly simple (but useful) format.
This unit has two parts, with two due dates. Part I includes developing hypotheses (proto-personas) and interview questions. Part II includes performing the interviews and creating the actual personas.
Read:
Please read these in their entirety! Specific sections will be referred to below, but the process will make more sense if you've read all of this ahead of time.
Part I will be done in a team meeting. As a group, create a proto-persona, in a format similar to figure 3-7. The authors describe (page 39) what to do with this proto-persona, but their process is a bit vague (imo), so we will use techniques described in the reading links.
The first link describes the general purpose and utility of personas. Look for questions on piazza about this topic. The second link describes persona creation in more detail. We will follow this process (simplified).
Review all the suggested
questions (in 2. Decide What To Ask
) and
answer the
following as a group:
Questions #1 and #3 are intended to help you think more broadly about users. Question #2 is most directly relevant, as this will generate the list of questions for your interviews (part II). I will review these questions before you do the actual interviews.
Collect your proto-persona, questions and reflection answers into one document and email to me as a pdf. Please use subject line "PROJECT QUESTIONS" and cc all team members. I want to review your interview questions before you perform your interviews.
Step 1. As soon as I have critiqued your questions, you should conduct your interviews.
Notes from each interview should be typed. Indicate who was present. NOTE: if you pick an interview subject who doesn't have much to say, you may want to do another interview (see evaluation criteria).
Step 2. Once all the interviews are complete, identify patterns in the data.
From the second link, review 5. Analyze
The Data
. Our process will not be as formal, but you should
discuss all your interview answers and identify patterns (behavior variables).
Example (pretend data):
This example from the reading graphs the patterns (behavior variables) and shows where each interviewee falls. For our project, just create a list of as many patterns as you can identify (format similar to my examples). Put your list in a pdf.
Step 3. Based on patterns, identify two personas, one primary and the other secondary.
Example personas for my hike/bike app: the primary persona is motivated by peer pressure and wants to share their workouts. The secondary persona is just using the app for personal tracking.
Why do we have primary and secondary? Example: For the fitness app, it's very important to include features desired by the primary (e.g., tagging companions for workouts that are shared). The design should also consider the needs of the secondary persona (e.g., not requiring extra keystrokes for someone who just wants their own lists).
Step 4. Create the persona.
Now create the personas. You may use the persona template (figure 3-9, page 38) OR you might want to experiment with this format. Your personas should incorporate much of the data from your interviews.
Submit your interview notes, list of patterns/behavior variables, and both personas. Each of these will receive a separate grade. Zip all your .pdf files for submission.
As I read your submissions, I will be asking:
Separate grades will be recorded for Part I and Part II. Note that Part I is emailed, Part II is submitted on Canvas.