Concepts by Alan Cooper - www.cooper.com
Know thy users for they are not you.
Personas act as stand-ins for real users
and help guide decisions about functionality and design. Personas are archetypal
users of an intranet or website that represent the needs of larger groups of
users, in terms of their goals and personal characteristics. Personas identify
the user motivations, expectations and goals responsible for driving online
behaviour, and bring users to life by giving them names, personalities and
often a photo.
Although personas are fictitious, they are based on knowledge of real users. Some form of user research is conducted before they are written to ensure they represent end users rather than the opinion of the person writing the personas. The more specific the persona, the better design tool it makes.
Persona Example
Bob
is 52 years old and works as a mechanic with an organisation offering road service
to customers when their car breaks down. He has worked in the job for the
past 12 years and knows it well. Many of the younger mechanics ask Bob for
advice when they meet up in the depot as he always knows the answer to tricky
mechanical problems. Bob likes sharing his knowledge with the younger guys,
as it makes him feel a valued part of the team.
Bob works rolling day and night shifts and spends his shifts attending
breakdowns and lockouts (when customers lock their keys in the car). About
20% of the jobs he attends are complex and he occasionally needs to refer to
his standard issue manuals. Bob tries to avoid using the manuals in front of
customers as he thinks it gives the impression he doesn't know what he's doing.
Bob has seen many changes over the years with the company and has tried his
best to move with the times. However he found it a bit daunting when a new
computer was installed in his van several years ago, and now he has heard rumours
that the computer is going to be upgraded to one with a bigger screen that's
meant to be faster and better.
Bob's been told that he will be able to access the intranet on the new computer.
He has heard about the intranet and saw once in an early version on his manager's
computer. He wonders if he will be able to find out want's going on in the
company more easily, especially as customers' seem to know more about the latest
company news than he does when he turns up at a job. This can be embarrassing
and has been a source of frustration for Bob throughout his time with the company.
Bob wonders if he will be able to cope with the new computer system. He doesn't
mind asking his grandchildren for help when he wants to send an email to his
brother overseas, but asking the guys at work for help is another story.
Benefits of Creating Personas
Personas enable web application teams to stand in their users' shoes. They focus the design effort on supporting user goals, rather than being driven by the ideas of team members or senior executives.
- users' goals and needs become a common point of focus for the team
- the team can concentrate on designing for a manageable set of personas knowing that they represent the needs of many users
- they are relatively quick to develop and replace the need to canvass the whole user community and spend months gathering user requirements
- they help avoid the trap of building what users ask for rather than what they will actually use
- design efforts can be prioritised based on the personas
- disagreements over design decisions can be sorted out by referring back to the personas
- designs can be constantly evaluated against the personas, reducing the frequency of large and expensive usability tests.