Whoever designs the user experience does so placing the users of the services at the heart of the processes. Therefore, the “Personas” tool is fundamental, as has already been illustrated in this blog. But how are personas created? And how are they used?
The process for constructing Personas
Personas are a tool designed by Alan Cooper, an American software designer and programmer, and consist of archetypes based on behavioural models observed during the user investigation process. By using these fictional characters, it is possible to develop a clear understanding of users’ aims in specific contexts, in the early stages of the design. They also represent a fundamental tool for the design and validation stages.
Contrary to what we may think about the method, creating Personas does not just mean thinking about stereotypes and generalized personalities, inventing some demographic data, modifying a model, choosing an ad hoc photo and exporting everything as a PDF file. In actual fact the method goes much further than this.
After years of experience at Cooper, Alan and his team succeeded in defining a standard process for the definition of Personas. Below is a summary of the process through an infographic that shows the six steps:
- Creating personalized interview groups based on the role of the user.
- Identifying the behavioural variables.
- Identifying significant behavioural models.
- Summarizing the characteristics and defining the objectives.
- Avoiding redundancy and perfecting the coherence of the profile.
- Defining the types of person.infografica
SIX BOOKS FOR FINDING OUT MORE:
- Mental Model , Indi Young
- About Face 4.0 Alan Cooper Designing for the digital age, Kim Goodwin
- Remote Research Nate Bolt, Tony Tulathimutte
- The Field Guide of Human Centered Design IDEO.org
- Observing the User Experience, Mike Kuniavsky
- The user is always right , Steve Mulder