Developing Personas
Collecting Data and Constructing PersonasRefer to Wodtke, chap 2 and chap 6 for details and models.
1. Interview users, potential and other (chap 2, and p 131 - 132). You're interested in a range of users at this point, not a specific few.
2. Review your interview findings to develop some general demographics of users, including specific, relevant, and universal goals. Again, you're creating a range of users here, not a focused few.
3. Design the personas to create a clear picture of the users. (133) Move from general demographics to specifics.
3a. Start by ranking the personas
- primary personas - those people that you want to make ecstatic
- secondary personas - a very different set of people than your primaries
- complimentary personas - radically different
Create a total of 3 - 5 personas.
3b. Add personality to the personas. Create lives, drawing as closely as possible on the real interviews. Use quotes, fill out background, detail their goals (138).
- Look carefully at persona goals - goals that are meaningful beyond your site but still affected by the site. Design isn't about your site, but user goals.
- Your statement of these goals should suggest the nature of the persona's personality.
4. Create persona pages, following the model on pp 138 - 9. Use a photo, demographic data, quote, profession or interests, background, and goals. You will develop these pages further.
Next: DevelopingScenarios.
