Key Elements of Effective Personas

Bob Moll, Monday, June 12, 2006 @ 6:42 pm

Alan Cooper is generally recognized for bringing personas to the UXD world in his 1998 classic book The Inmates Are Running the Asylum. Today, personas can be found stretching into the toolbox of marketing experts and business strategists. But what makes an effective persona? In our experience, several things are important.

First, give your personas a name and a photo. We can readily remember and relate to a series of names and photographs. It isn’t just soft fuzzy stuff, it will speed your discussions and make them more engaging. You will get to know these users as your project evolves.

Second, get a firm delineation of the user’s goals. What is this person trying to do? Then consider headlining the goals with a quote that characterizes the user’s attitude, desire or priority as it relates to the goals. For instance, in a mission critical healthcare setting, a quote might be something like “I need to be fast and accurate.”

Finally, provide a day in the life narrative about your user. What in his or her day relates to the product or system you are designing? What tasks or steps are key? You don’t need to be a great storyteller to write such a narrative. You can simply lay out a chronology of events from, say, arriving at work to leaving at the end of the day.

While there is a lot of science you can apply to personas, master the basics and you will be able to quickly craft a powerful vehicle for guiding design, strategy and ideation.

user experience design

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