Using voter personas to understand who is coming to your election department web site

Using personas to designbetter election web sites@danachis

MatthewAttorneyMarriedLoves his BlackberryHates emailReads NYTimes on iPadAddicted to Words With Friends

Find where to votein the next election

EdithFollows Detroit TigersHates ESPN.comLoves face-to-face online

DennisBuilding contractorCell phone is for calling homeVery tuned in to current eventsSees no usefulness in FacebookRecently more absent-mindedDifﬁculty doing standard calculations

Jane1,000-acre farmTweets soil chemical readingsTablet instrumented to aggregate data

Personas: Archetypal users‣ Composites of real users‣ Function or task-based

You: designer & developer How do you design for these people based on what you know? Think about each of the people as you answer these questions:

What can we say about how persistent the person is?

How pro-active will this person be in solving problems?

How easily will this person become frustrated?

How tech savvy is this person?

How literate is this person in the domain?

Little data, lots of assumptions

How old are they? 54 83 28 60Matthew Edith Dennis JaneBlackberry-loving ESPN.com-hating Facebookwhat? Farmer nerdSt Paul attorney Hangouts fan

How old are they? How educated are they?How much money do they make?

These don’t matter.

If demographics don’t matter, what do you do?

Persona modeleraccounts for what the user brings to the designis a framework for personashelps teams evaluate the strength of their knowledgeabout users

Ask the right questions• persistence with tech• tolerance for risk & experimentation• how patient, how easily frustrated• tech savviness, expertise• strength of tech vocabulary• physical or cognitive abilities

• Attitude motivation, emotion, risk tolerance, trust, persistence, optimism or pessimism• Aptitude current knowledge, ability to make inferences, expertise• Ability physical and cognitive attributes

! Persona modeler

Task +functionality Find out where to voteNew to the area?Dropping a vote-by-mail ballot?Early voting?

Ask the right questions• Who is the most persistent when it comes to working with technology?• Who is the most likely to experiment and create workarounds when something doesn’t work the way they expect?• Who do you think will give up when they encounter frustrations out of impatience?

Ask the right questions• Which one is the most tech savvy - expert? Which one strikes you as the least tech savvy?• Which one is the most likely to call the ofﬁce to help them get out of some tech pickle? Or who will call the ofﬁce rather than using the web site?• Who will have the most advanced tech vocabulary when they do call for support?

MatthewAttorneyHouse in St Paul, marriedAssistant books reservationsLoves his BlackberryHates emailReads NYTimes on iPadAddicted to Words With FriendsDoesn’t spend a lot of time on the WebAvid hiker and birderBad kneesNeeds Rx eyepiece for scope

M M M! Where does Matthew ﬁt?

EdithAvid sports fanLives in Miami, votes in RochesterFollows Detroit TigersHates ESPN.comLoves face-to-face onlinePicked up Skype early, quicklyPrefers Google HangoutsDropped FaceTime - gestures were frustrating

E E E! Where does Edith ﬁt?

DennisBuilding contractor in DuluthMarried to a nurseThey have 2 kids8-year-old cell phoneGets current events on the WebSees no usefulness in FacebookTrouble sleeping, easily distractedIraq + Afganistan: Blunt Force Brain Trauma

D D D! Where does Dennis ﬁt?

Jane1,000-acre farm in Dillworth12 different systems every dayTweets soil chemical readingsSmartphone alerts from exchangesTablet instrumented to aggregate dataMinimized manual inputArthritic thumbsNeeds stronger progressive lenses

J J J! Where does Jane ﬁt?

D M E J DM E J D E MJ! Persona modeling

How dodesigndecisionschange withtheseattributes?

Subtlety ofaffordancesSize of targetsDirectness of thehappy pathFeedback modalitiesLabeling & triggerwordsAmount of copyWording ofinstructions &messages

Writing instructions voters understand1. Explain how to vote2. Put instructions where voters need them3. Help voters prevent making errors4. Write short sentences5. Use short, simple, everyday words6. Use active voice7. Write in the positive8. Instructions with multiple steps should be numbered9. Keep paragraphs short10. Separate paragraphs with a space

1. Explain how to vote2. Put instructions where voters need them3. Help voters prevent making errors4. Write short sentences5. Use short, simple, everyday words6. Use active voice7. Write in the positive8. Instructions with multiple steps should be numbered9. Keep paragraphs short10.Separate paragraphs with a space

If you had this tool, what would you do next?What would be different for your design?

Persona modeler• Designing for attitude, aptitude, & ability• Accounting for what the user brings to the design• Checking that personas cover the right things

Big ideasPersona modeler: fast way to visualize users byasking important questions framework for talking about who users are can tell which users might be missing works with any amount of data middle ground between demographics and research-based personas

Field Guides seriesResearch Research SOP and Usability Researchcommissioned by commissioned by and Civic Life commissioned byEAC NIST Project NIST

Coming soonEffective election Delivering useful Effective design Designing multi-department voter education for vote-by-mail language ballotsweb sites Research partially Research partially Funding yet to be Funding yet to be funded by funded by secured secured Kickstarter Kickstarter

Field GuidesTo Ensuring Voter Intentcivicdesigning.org /ﬁeldguides

DanaChisnelldana@usabilityworks.netwww.usabilityworks.net415.519.1148@danachis

Using voter personas to understand who is coming to your election department web site

by Dana Chisnell on Jun 14, 2012

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