Stories have power to add empathy and connection to our work. They can help us learn about people, culture, and context—why, when, and how our products might be used—and share this with a design team. Stories permeate UX techniques from user stories to storyboards. They come to full power when used with personas: the persona provides a fully envisioned lead character for the story, a perspective through which interactions can be explored, and a voice for the emotional reactions to design ideas. Creating stories for personas is a craft. They are not fiction, but are grounded in the data and user research that informs the persona. They are not fact, but are imagined events, shaped to explore possibilities. They are realistic, but not perhaps real, because they represent not just one individual or event, but something that might happen, and that provides insights into a user experience. These slides were used in a presentation at CHIFOO on February 5, 2014 CHIFOO members have access to the video of this presentation, with sign interpretation http://www.chifoo.org/index.php/chifoo/events_detail/persona_stories_weaving_together_qual_and_quant_for_a_richer_picture/

1. Persona Stories
Weaving together quant
& qual for a richer picture
Whitney Quesenbery
WQusability and Center for Civic Design
Twitter @whitneyq

2. Hi!
User research, usability, accessibility
 Former theatre designer
 Storytelling as a way to understand users,
culture, and context in UX design
 Passionate about civic design
 New book on accessible UX


How about you?

3. Stories connect us
Couriemail.com.au

4. Personas & stories communicate patterns

Stories...


Communicate culture


Store and transmit knowledge
Explore new ideas
They help us…


4
Share information in
memorable form
Understand emotion and
desires

5. Too often, quantitative data looks like this...

6. And even when it looks like this...

7. Or this, it still needs a storyteller
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbkSRLYSojo

8. Stories let us fill in the gaps
http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/blindspot1.html

9. Stories create relationships
What do they share?
What do they share?
Who is telling
the story?
Who is the audience
for the story?

10. A story is shared by everyone who hears it

11. Stories are building blocks
Kindersandi.moonfruit.com

12. Explain patterns of use

13. Ten minutes is not enough. That's Tanner’s opinion about
the time limits on using the computer at school.
Last Friday, he started working on a geography assignment
and look up some information about the animals in Africa.
He had just gotten started when his turn on the computer
was up. He’d like to work on it over the weekend, but can’t
access the school library. He prints out a few things, and
figures he will retype what he’s done when he gets home.
What a bore.
Communicate context (and emotion)

14. Show action over time

15. Narrative weaves the user journey
into the structure of a site.

16. Rachel, Enthusiastic dreamer
28, finished one year at uni, works in an office
Lives in North London with a partner
Hasn’t settled down to a plan for her life
Interested in Social Sciences
FIRST CONTACT WITH THE OU: OU ON TV
Insomnia led Rachel to the OU, watching programs on the
telly. She starts to enjoy the programmes and thinks about
doing something to improve her career. It takes her a long
time to act on this idea, but she visits an Open Day.
She spends ages thinking about it, sometimes browsing the
web site, but also reading the brochures she has taken from
the Open Day.
On her third trip to an Open Day, she finally registers for an
Openings course that’s about to begin.
Fill in details and scenarios

17. Stories can explore unexpected data
Gina gave us the first clue. She was a nurse
manager for the county health system. “I’m on the
move all day and I have a huge case load. Patients
are always throwing new questions at me.
Yesterday, I really struggled to sort out a problem
one patient was having with side effects.
I speak a little Spanish, but just couldn’t remember
the correct medical term to explain a new adjuvant
the doctor wanted to try. It was so frustrating.”
She pointed at the sketch. “I don’t have a phone
that will do all that...yet, but... if it’s really that ...
simple…”

18. A lens into the data

19. What is the impact of search on the user experience?

20. Search and traffic analysis

The top searches are persistent (and have continued over time

With some seasonal variations

21. The search logs shows a classic “long tail”
eggs
onions
cabbage
vinegar
potato
salmon

23. We had personas
George
Martin
Margaret
Jason
Abila
Rachel

24. We* can use the personas as a lens into the data
* by “we” I mean Viki Stirling and Sarah Allen the maestros of the analytics

29. Consolidating knowledge

30. Personas explore tensions in the design space

31. The personas show the faces of the journey

32. We mapped quantitative data to the persona

Demographics

Journey

Market segments

Task analysis

Skills

Usability needs

Other sites used

33. And showed data snapshots to reinforce knowledge

34. Revealing dreams
Tomorrow and Tomorrow

35. Personas can embody data
Maria
Lea
Emily
• Community health
worker in her Latino
community
• Married with grown
children
• Smartphone is her
primary computer
• Masters degree
• Writer/editor for a
trade publication
• Works from home
• Windows desktop
• Graduated from high
school and working on a
college degree
• Lives in a loft with a group
of friends
• Works part-time at a local
community center

36. Maria
"I love this. It's all here...when
I can find it."

Ability: Prefers Spanish language sites, when
she can find them; needs information and
instructions written clearly

Aptitude: Adventurous, but not very proficient;
husband and daughter set up bookmarks for her

Attitude: Thinks it’s wonderful to be able to have
her favorite websites with her at all times

Assistive Technology: Skype, online translation
sites

The data picture:
 17.8 million people in the US speak English
"less than well"
 Latino aduls are more likely to use moile
devices and search.
Maria
• 49 years old
• Community college +
healthcare certificate
• Married, grown children
• Spanish – English
bilingual
• Community health worker
• Smartphone from her
phone service, home
computer primarily her
husband’s, for his work

37. Lea
"No one gets that this really is
a disability."

Lea
• 35 years old
• Masters degree
• Writes for a trade
publication; works from
home
Ability: Fatigue from fibromyalgia,
trackball, and special keyboard

Aptitude: Average user

Attitude: Wishes people would understand
how hard it can be for her to make it
through the day

Assistive Technology: Split keyboard,
power keyboard user, Dragon Naturally
Speaking

The data picture:
 5 million people in the US have
fibormyalgia, 80-90% are women
 People with this and related diseases
have increased sensitivity to pain

38. Emily
"I want to do everything for myself"

Emily
• 24 years old
• Graduated from high
school and working on a
college degree
• Lives in a small
independent living facility
• Works part-time at a local
community center
Ability: Cerebral palsy. Difficult to use hands
and has some difficulty speaking clearly; uses a
motorized wheel chair

Aptitude: Uses the computer well, with the right
input device; good at finding efficient search
terms

Attitude: Wants to do everything for herself; can
be impatient

Assistive Technology: Communicator (AAC)
with speech generator, iPad, power wheelchair

The data picture:

800,000 children and adult in the U.S. have one
of the forms of CP.

Among all U.S. working age (18–64) people
with disabilities, only 21% are employed full- or
part-time.

39. Carol
Jacob
Lea
Emily
Steven
Vishnu
Accessible UX
Personas
Maria
Trevor

40. How will you tell the story?
Mary and Leonard Trujillo – The Mudhead Gallery

41. Stories are efficient
Tanner was deep into a Skatepunkz game—all
the way up to level 12—when he got a buddy
message from his friend, Steve, with a
question about his homework.
He looked up with a start. Almost bedtime
and his homework was still not done. Mom or
Dad would be in any minute.

42. Each voice is a perspective
Third Person
Second Person
First Person
Story is told about
someone, looking at them
from the outside
Story is told from the point
of view of the main
character
For example:
A UX person telling stories
about how several different
people responded to a
prototype.
For example:
Feedback to a participant or
other stakeholder,
For example:
A UX person telling the
story of their own reactions.
“Interviewing a persona”
Persona stories, especially if
there is more than one
Talking directly to users of a
product
Retelling a story from the
point of view of the original
experience.
Maintains a distance
between “us” and
“them”
42
Story is a conversation
between the storyteller and
another person
Creates a direct
connection and invites
the other person to
respond.
Invites the audience to
look at the story
through the eyes of

43. 3rd person allows you to explain and interpret
Mary works as a nurse in a hectic
women’s health center for a lowincome neighborhood.
…
Her questions about cancer mostly
come from her patients, or from
wanting to be sure that she
catches any early signs.
…
She has learned conversational
Spanish, so she can talk to her
patients for whom this is a first
language.
…
When she looks things up on the
Web, she tends to go back to
familiar sites
Whose words and thoughts are these?

Are these things that Mary would say
or are they our interpretation of all the
data and stories that went into the
Mary persona?

How can we show when we are using
her own words?

Does this story invoke research
authority- a “realist tale”?
John van Mannen – Tales from the Field

44. 2nd person creates conversation
How can you show the conversation?


Persona by Caroline Jarrett for the Open University
Interviews maintain a separation
Conversations can also happen
between two personas

45. 1st person invites identity

You represent the persona and
tell the story from their point of
view.

Lets you “get into the head” of the
story (an “impressionist tale”)
OR

45
First person can tell your story of
your experience with the person
(a “confessional tale”)

46. Stories are not a detailed task analysis
Focus on the story

Establish the scene with imagery

What’s the time-frame?

What’s the emotional context
Think about the persona’s perspective

How do they see the events or interaction?

What words do they use? Style of language?

What are the boundaries of the story from their point of view?
(Hint: it might not be your product!)
Don’t use the story to describe the user

47. Use (relevant) details to compare and contrast

Include details outside of their interaction with your product, but
connect them to behavior that is relevant.


Think about counter-intuitive details


Example: The youngest persona may not be the most technology
savvy or have the most advanced mobile technology.
Show interactions with other products, organizations, or activities


Example: How central to their lives is this activity?
Example: Using recipe sites shows how nurses will use complex
search when they understand the context.
Add a little human interest

Example: What kind of pets do all the personas have? What sport
do play? What books are they reading?

48. Personas and their stories give us...
A richer understanding of context
Innovation from real needs
More persuasive ideas
People in the center of the process

49. Stories create empathy
Screen: Globalgiving.com
For more::http://succeedwithsuccessstories.com/dr-spocks-guide-to-improving-your-charitable-appeals/

50. Stories change how we think
Our experience of the
world is shaped by our
interpretations of it,
the stories we tell
ourselves.... so the
key to personal
transformation is story
transformation.
- Timothy Wilson, Redirect
Screen from Tripit

51. Personas (and stories) travel thru the UX journey
Gather information - both
qualitative and quantitative –
about the audience
Understand
Create personas that reflect
the breadth and depth of
the audience
Evaluate
Personas can be a
vehicle for evaluation,
or a check on usability
test participants
Specify
Design
Use the personas to
explore current problems
and new design ideas

52. A story is successful when it gets repeated

Based on real data

The stories you want told

Generate insights and empathy
& that lead to action!

53. Storytelling for User Experience
with Kevin Brooks
Global UX
with Daniel Szuc
A Web for Everyone
with Sarah Horton
http://rosenfeldmedia.com/books/a-web-for-everyone/

54. Whitney Quesenbery
whitneyq@wqusability.com
www.wqusability.com
@whitneyq
Center for Civic Design
whitneyq@centerforcivicdesign
centerforcivicdesign.org
@ChadButterfly