Modeling Users:
Personas and Goals
Cooper 5
William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu
Topics
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Why Model?
Personas
Personas as a Design Tool
Personas vs. User Roles
Personas vs. Market Segments
User vs. Non-User Personas
William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu
Topics
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Goals
User Goals
Non-User Goals
Constructing Personas
Persona Types
Other Models
Questions & Discussion
William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu
Why Model?
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Represent complex structures,
relationships
Increased understanding, visualization
Based on raw, observed behavior
Synthesize data patterns
William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu
Personas
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Help identify specific users and needs
Identify primary, secondary users
Helps choose the right individuals to
design for
William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu
Personas as a Design Tool
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Identify what the product should do
Determine a product’s behavior
Facilitates communication with
stakeholders
Builds consensus and commitment
Measures design effectiveness
William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu
Personas as a Design Tool
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Contributes to marketing and sales
Help resolve
– Elastic user
– Self-referential design
– Design edge cases
William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu
The Elastic User
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Each designer has own idea of end
user
User definition becomes elastic to fit
designer
Real users are not elastic
William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu
Self-Referential Design
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Designers project own goals onto
product
We tend towards technology for it’s
own sake
William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu
Design Edge Cases
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Possible situations
Usually not experienced by target
personas
Must be programmed for
Not the design focus
William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu
Personas are Based on
Research
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Interviews with users
Information from stakeholders
Information from SMEs
Market research data
Market segmentation models
Literature reviews
William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu
Personas are Represented
as Individuals
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User models treated as actual
individuals
Represented as specific individuals
Considered as real users
Represent classes of users in context
Context specific
William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu
Personas are Represented
as Individuals
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Not reusable across products
Not archetypes or stereotypes
Do not represent an average user
Represent user examples
May have a collection or cast of
personas for a product
William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu
Personas vs. User Roles
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Some similarities
– Seek to describe relationships of users to
products
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Roles are abstractions
Personas address goals
Personas are more holistic models
William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu
Personas vs. Market
Segments
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Market segments are based on
– Demographics
– Distribution channels
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Personas are based on
– Behaviors
– Goals
William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu
User vs. Non-User Personas
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Non-user personas include
– Product reviewers
– Columnists
– IT Managers
– Purchasing agents
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Driven by business goals
William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu
Goals
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Drivers behind user behaviors
Addressed via tasks
Provide answers to product usage
motivation
Inferred from qualitative data
Expressed as simple sentence
William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu
Types of Goals
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First priority in design
Goals may be different for:
– Organizations
– Employers
– Customers
– Partners
– End users
William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu
User Goals
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Life goals
– Become an expert in my field
– Get promoted quickly
– Exhibit ethics and trust
William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu
User Goals
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Experience goals
– Don’t feel stupid
– Minimize or eliminate mistakes
– Feel competent and confident
– Enjoy the product’s use
William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu
User Goals
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End goals
– Find the best price for a product
– Finalize a press release
– Process customer orders
– Create software
William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu
Non-User Goals
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Customer
– Parents, relatives, friends
– IT Managers, purchasers, management
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Security
Maintenance
Customization
Installation
William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu
Non-User Goals
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Corporate
– Increase profit
– Increase market share
– Defeat competition
– Use resources efficiently
– Offer more products or services
William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu
Non-User Goals
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Technical goals
– Minimize memory use
– Run in a browser
– Safeguard data
– Execute efficiently
– Cross platform usage/consistency
William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu
Constructing Personas
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Incorporate information about
– Goals
– Attitudes
– Work or activity flow
– Environment
– Skills and levels
– Frustrations
William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu
Constructing Personas
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Revisit the personal hypothesis
Map interviews to behavioral variables
Identify significant behavior patterns
Synthesize characteristics and goals
Check for completeness
Develop narratives
Designate types
William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu
Revisit The Personal
Hypothesis
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Compare patterns to assumptions
Do not focus on demographics
Behavioral variables are paramount
15 – 30 variables per role are typical
William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu
Map Interviews To Behavioral
Variables
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Map interviewee against variable
range
Precision is not critical
Relative placement is the goal
William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu
Mapping Subjects to Variables
William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu
Identify Significant Behavior
Patterns
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Clustering of subjects may ID persona
Clustered behaviors must be causal
William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu
Synthesize Characteristics And
Relevant Goals
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Describe such things as
– Potential use environment
– Typical workday
– Current solutions
– Frustrations with existing systems
– Relevant relationships with others
William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu
Check For Completeness
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Merge or separate personas
Fill in gaps
Insure distinctness and completeness
William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu
Develop Narratives
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Third person narrative
One to two pages
Not a short story
Introduces persona
Sketches a day in the life
Expresses personas product
expectations
William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu
Designate Types
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Primary Personas
Secondary Personas
Supplemental Personas
Customer Personas
Served Personas
Negative Personas
William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu
Primary Personas
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Primary target for interface design
Multiple interfaces for multiple primary
personas are possible
Not satisfied by designs targeted to
any other persona
Compare goals of different personas
William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu
Secondary Personas
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May be satisfied by 1 or 2 additions
Address needs without impeding
primary
Typically, 0 - 2
William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu
Supplemental Personas
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Satisfied by primary personas’
interface
May be peripheral stakeholders
William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu
Customer Personas
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Not end users
Treated a secondary
May be primary personas
William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu
Served Personas
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Not product users
Directly affected by product’s use
Served by interface
William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu
Negative Personas
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Non-users
Purely rhetorical
Communicates who is not the design
target
William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu
Other Models
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Workflow or sequence reflect
– Process initiation
– Information produced and consumed
– Decisions
– Actions
William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu
Other Models
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Artifact models
– Online or paper forms
– Capture commonalities and differences
– Useful to ID best practices
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Physical models
– Focus on layout
William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu
Questions & Discussion
William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu