WEEK 9
Researching Design Processes
UTS
building and using
personas and scenarios
penny hagen

www.digitaleskimo.net

personas and scenarios: design tools
image http://www.flickr.com/photos/bre/552152780/

our designs live here
image http://www.flickr.com/photos/tim166/293161965/sizes/l/

help us stay connected to our
users and the real world, while we
are in our design studio.

Personas
a description of a representative user
(a pretend person who represents a type or group of users)

examples
Dianne
images http://wiki.fluidproject.org/display/fluid/Persona%2BFormat

example persona: Giles
Attributes
•Tech-savvy, interested in new technologies
•Uses a lot of keyboard shortcuts
•Comfortable in both Mac and PC platforms
•Eager to try out new technologies
•Diligent blogger
•Finds IM too distracting so stays off it
“I do everything with my laptop” Goals
•Get good grades
Background •Continue to get funding to complete his masters
Age: 25 thesis next year
Occupation: Graduate student •Be actively involved in bike clubs and lead an
School: Faculty of Information social/outdoorsy life outside school
Technology level: Programmer, •Keep fit
uber power-user of computers, •Continue to blog regularly to get recognition from
very \"Web 2.0\" the online community
Derived from : http://wiki.fluidproject.org/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=2884113

example persona: Robert
Background
•Age: 35
•Occupation: Educator at Wildlife Center
•Technology level: Definitely not \"into\" technology, but
uses it when needed to get the job done.
Attributes
• Going back to school as an online student after years in
the workforce
• Studies at home alone
• Sometimes finds the technology in his online course to
be more of an impediment than a help
• Doesn't want school to get in the way of his social life
Goals
\"I want technology to • Teach people about the importance of protecting the
environment
stay out of my way.\"
• Obtain his teaching certificate
• Continue to do well at his job and not let school get in the
way
• Maintain his active social life
Derived from http://wiki.fluidproject.org/display/fluid/Charlie+Jones+(Online+Student+-+Adult+Learner)

Personas
Tell us:
who the users are.
what are the activities they wish to perform.
why they might use/buy/wear/visit our product i.e their motivations
How our product/service fits into the context of their life.

Building a persona:
Background: Activities/Motivations
Name What are they trying to achieve?
Age Why are they trying to achieve this?
Background, family etc
Role/Job/Occupation
Leisure activities/recreational
interests, aspirations Project Engagement
What is their relationship to the brand/
Characteristics service/product?
Technical use (tools, ability, access What triggers the “interaction”?
points) What similar brands might they use?
Scenarios

analysing research

seeing patterns

identifying personas

New Matilda

Joel - academic - regular user
Active participant within the New Matilda community. Supports
independent media, and the goals of the magazine. Been with
them since pretty much the beginning when they were a print
magazine.
Age: 48
Avid reader of political content on and
Assoc. Professor, Teaching Theories of
Journalism and New Media, at a Sydney offline.
University Likes to read articles and comment on them
as well as share them with others.
Grown up family. Tries to get his kids Sometimes contributes articles
interested in political issues. Supports He has a general interest in all the articles
the greens and gives talks at that are published.
conferences. Enjoys reading and music, Prints stuff out to read on the bus.
used to play in a band but recently they Sometimes looks for old articles to
havenʼt been practicing much. Takes references in his lectures.
Uses RSS to get updates from his favourite
public transport to work.
sites.
photo from http://www.flickr.com/photos/82705724@N00/97272720/

Shymika
Shymika - “ad hoc” user
Found the site via a google search for internet censorship in
Australia. She is looking specifically for articles that address
the arguments made by Stephen Conroy on the internet filter
Jillian 38
scheme.
Came to the site via a google search for internet censorship in Australia. She
is looking specifically for articles that address the arguments made by Stephen
Shymika is fact gathering for an internal report
Conroy on the internet filter scheme. She is works in business and IT and is
on the impacts of ISP internet filtering for her
fact gathering for an internal report on the impacts for her industry. She is
often tasked with sumamrising directions in her industry to her colleagues and
industry. She is often tasked with summarize
reads a lot online. She is a gym and hiking fanatic and likes to balance her
Age: 33 computer time with the outdoors. That said she takes her blackberrydirections in her industry to her colleagues and
Business Analyst
everywhere she goes. reads a lot online.
ShymikaInterested in Article(s) on a specific topic
works at a software
• Factual
She is subscribed to a lot of online technology
development company. She is a
Touchpoint websites and blogs via RSS.
• Google Site
gym and hiking fanatic and an article shows up in search or
• Visits are infrequent - only when likes to
balance herresearch
computer time with the She is interested factual article(s) on a specific
outdoors. That said she takes her
Engagement
Reads the discussions but does not contribute topic. She reads the discussions but only
blackberry following an article via RSSshe goes. enough comments very rarely.
May everywhere updates if its relevant
When researching she mostly uses google.
photo from http://www.flickr.com/photos/aviisme/875249653/

Anna - (future user)
Isnʼt aware of New Matilda but is very interested in
wide ranging political opinion and debates,
Jillian 38
particular regional politics.
Came to the site via a google search for internet censorship in Australia. She
is looking specifically for articles that address the arguments made by Stephen
Conroy on the internet filter scheme. She is works in business and IT and is
fact gathering for an internal report on the impacts for her industry. She is
often tasked with sumamrising directions in her industry to her colleagues and
Age: 21 reads a lot online. She is a gym and hiking fanatic and likes to balance her Spends most of her connected time on
Political computer time withStudent said she takes her blackberry
Science the outdoors. That news, social networking, music and
everywhere she goes.
media sites.
RecentlyInterested in Article(s) on a Perth to
moved from specific topic
• Factual
Melbourne for Uni. She flats with other Posts interesting articles she finds onto
Touchpoint
students and enjoys getting to know
• Google Site
• Visits are infrequent - only when an article shows up in search or her facebook profile and religiously
the Melbourne scene. She is a keen
research
bookmarks stuff on delicious to share with
photographer and volunteers part time
Engagement
her network.
Reads the discussions but does not contribute
at an animal shelter.viaShe likesrelevantshare
May following an article RSS updates if its to enough
her vision for future Australia with Also uses delicious as a way to find good
friends and other students, when articles through other people.
theyʼll listen.
photo from http://www.flickr.com/photos/thomashawk/132574958/

building personas
client workshops, survey
interviews
& site visits
100
75
50
25
0
statistics (hits, keywords)
secondary research

informing design

informing design
Participation easy and visible
Rich navigation
Better search ranking
Easy to share and subscribe

nudies

creating nudies

Rick, NGO in Thailand

Dianne, Philanthropic Institute in the US

Ash, 9yo Sports & Science fanatic
Akira, 8.5yo Science & Music enthusiast

why nudies?
Shifts our perspective to the user
Reveals important information...
Fun, visual and memorable

Personas
Manage and share research
Represent important patterns about behavior
Provide a user perspective for guiding design
Prompt new design possibilities and features
Can trigger further research

Scenarios
Scenarios
descriptions of everyday situations
remind us that people are using our products and services as part of their
everyday lives...

example scenario
At lunch Joel and his friend Rick get to
talking about the phenomena of Susan
Boyle. Joel refers to an article about it on
New Matilda, after lunch he finds it again and
sends it to Rick.
They describe an instance of use...in context.

SCENARIOS
(with a purpose)
current scenario
future scenario
test scenarios
Bødker 2000

current use scenario
While checking his email at work in the morning Joel
sees a New Matilda headline that catches his eye. He
reads the first half of the article before emailing the link to
a friend. Later that morning he returns to read the rest.
He tries to leave a comment but canʼt remember his
password.

future use scenario
While checking his news feeds at work in the morning Joel sees a New Matilda
headline that catches his eye. He reads half the article before sending it on to a
friend. Later that morning he returns to read the rest before leaving a comment.
Itʼs a particularly funny article so he also bookmarks it posts it to his facebook
profile.

creating a scenario
•Who is the persona involved?
•What triggers this experience?
•What happens?
•What is the outcome?
Focus on activities people do, and the context
in which they do them.

scenarios and personas in design

testing designs

ʻmagicʼ Scenario
Akira
Akiras trip to the zoo

visual scenario

Scenarios
Assist us in thinking about use in context
Expose problems and opportunities in current design
Flesh out and evaluate a design idea from multiple perspectives

personas and scenarios: design tools
made with a purpose ( ø B dker 2000)
used to inform the design, not make your design idea sound good!

use is messy and complex
concrete and specific: Keep us connected to the use context

we see the world differently
empathy: Focus our attention on the users experience

communicate & share
a design resource we can share with others

help us to reflect and reason
tools for thinking about design (Robertson et al. 2005)

References
Bødker, S. 2000, 'Scenarios in user-centred design--setting the
stage for reflection and action', Interacting with Computers,
vol. 13, no. 1, pp. 61-75.
Robertson, T., Mansfield, T. & Loke, L. 2005, '\"Tools to think With\"
- Critical Engagement in the Design of an Immersive
Environment for Public Use', Submitted to Critical
Computing 2005.
Image Credits
http://www.enginegroup.co.uk/service_design/m_page/personas
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lynchaos/95475525/sizes/o/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wallabee/71125812/
http://wiki.fluidproject.org/display/fluid/Persona%2BFormat
http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexkon/56086855/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nassergazi/2849017127/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lst1984/2019117548/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mandric/2501017254/
http://www.photoshopessentials.com/images/photo-effects/photo-
fill/main-cropped.jpg
http://static.photo.net/attachments/bboard/00O/
00Omjg-42267684.jpg
http://www.flickr.com/photos/aviisme/875249653/photo from
http://www.flickr.com/photos/thomashawk/132574958/
photo from http://www.flickr.com/photos/aviisme/875249653/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/katjohnston/2820517823/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/afronie/227438290/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jlmcvay/21895410/
photo from http://www.flickr.com/photos/
82705724@N00/97272720/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kimberlyfaye/2785383504/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tim166/293161965/sizes/l/
Thanks to Digital Eskimo & their awesome Clients