Assumptive Personas: Start With What You Know
86
Assumptive Personas: Start with what You Know Jeremy Kriegel UX Director, Gemvara
-
Upload
jeremy-kriegel -
Category
Design
-
view
481 -
download
0
description
You strive to be ‘user centric’, but when you haven’t done the background research, who exactly is the user you are talking about? You’ve likely found that many conversations still revolve around, “I think we should” rather than about what your target users would need. Personas solve this problem by creating a realistic profile that represents a segment. Even if you don’t have a lot of time to do up-front primary research to inform your personas, you can create assumptive personas based on the knowledge within your team. This will help to focus conversations and decisions and give you a clear direction for where to focus your research efforts.In this class, I’ll outline what personas are, why they are useful, and how to create them. You will have the opportunity to practice creating your own assumptive personas based on the knowledge of your ‘team’, identify the key assumptions that are critical to your team’s success, and craft a research plan to validate those assumptions.
Transcript of Assumptive Personas: Start With What You Know
Assumptive Personas:Start with what
You Know
Jeremy KriegelUX Director, Gemvara
Introductions
• Name• Role• Something interesting• Expectations
Who are we designing for?
$$ like…
We are happy
I think…
I think…
I think…
I think…
I think…
I think…
I think…
I think…
I think…
I think…
I think…
I think…
I think…
I think…
I think…and that’s final
There's zero correlation between being the best talker and having the best ideas.
- Susan Cain
Author, Quiet
“
”
Ask them!*Engage
Market Segmentation
Demographics• 35-44• Male• Married with 1.8 kids• $75K-90K• College graduates• 86% Caucasian• Born in the USA
Psychographics• Running, gym, • 56% liberal, 40% conservative• Ambitious, self-reliant,
competitive• Hard work, recognition
Firmographics• Automotive engineer• 15 years experience• Specializes in aerodynamics
Behaviors• Regular users • Avg use of 6.3x/week• Accounts with 2-3 competitors• Activity increases around back-
to-school
Think of someone you are close to
Describe them by their
‘graphics
Tell a favorite story about that person
Segment
Persona
Focus
Innovation comes… from saying no to 1,000
things to make sure we don’t get on the
wrong track or try to do too much. We’re
always thinking about new markets we
could enter, but it’s only by saying no that
you can concentrate on the things that are
really important.
-Steve Jobs
http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/oct2004/nf20041012_4018_PG2_db083.htm
Consensus
Empathy
100 Year Old (Wo)Man
Life in 1813• Sears Roebuck and Montgomery Ward
Catalogs 2nd and 3rd most read books• For entertainment, families gathered around
the piano for a sing along, took a drive in their horse-drawn carriage or car (Model T released 5 years ago), or went to a nickel arcade for a movie
• The Titanic sank last year• There has never been a world war
Explain an iPad
Explain the internet
Quantitative
Ideally Combine
• Validate qualitative with quantitative
• Flesh out quantitative with qualitative
Avoid hypotheticals
What differentiates?
• Goals• Demographics • Activities• Behaviors• Other?
Describe the Personas
• Give them details• Make them believable
Persona Priority
Name & Picture Summary & Quote
DemographicsStory
User Goals Summary Business Goals Summary
lou suSi – BXOS !nteractive!http://www.behance.net/gallery/Monster-Persona-Cards/1208889
Start with What You Know
What we know
What we don’t know
Assumptive Personas
Known knowns
Known unknowns
Unknown unknowns
Break into teams
Your Project
Your Business
Client: The Awesomes
• New team of heroes• Open holes in their roster• Not the best showing so far• At risk of losing their government
funding• Public is very skeptical
What if we can’t agree?
BREAK:Decide on your
client
Business Goals
Biz Goal
Biz Goal
Biz Goal
persona persona persona persona
Story Story Story Story Story Story Story Story Story
SpecificMeasurableAttainableRelevantTime-bound
Define SMART(ish)
Goals
Force Prioritize
Hypothesize Segments
Create a big list
• High level description• What differentiates them?
– Goals– Demographics– Psychographics– Firmographics– Behaviors – ???
Winnow Segments
• Are any close enough to be identical?• If I satisfy A, do I also satisfy B?• Give segments a title
Map Personas to Biz Goals
• A persona can support more than one goal
Prioritize Segments
Define Personas
Persona Definitions• Persona goals• Business goals• Context • Behaviors• Barriers• Demographics• Psychographics• Firmographics
Tell their story
Critical Assumptions
Cos
t of
Wro
ng
Uncertainty
Mitigation Strategies• Expert opinions
– research, consulting• Quantitative research
– surveys, analytics• Qualitative research
– Usability studies, focus groups, contextual inquiry
Why risk instead of benefit?
Fear sells
Identify & Mitigate
Present
Now what?
Distribute them far and wide
• Introduce them at a company meeting• Mount posters around the office, and in
conference rooms• Print persona cards for everyone
Refer to them often
• Whenever you hear, “I think”, or “I want”, ask, “What would [personal] want?”
Adapt them as needed
• When you find new info• Not to suit pre-existing agendas
Validate & expand
• Get some help• Go it alone
Innovation is solving a problem I didn't know I had
until I see your solution
One last thinghttp://spkr8.com/t/27911
Resources
• User is Always Right – by Steve Mulder• Don’t Make Me Think – by Steve Krug• http://www.cooper.com/journal/
personas/
