This is the deck for a talk I gave at the Brisbane UX and IxDA meetup group on creating and using personas. I've had to remove the case study slides in order to make this available to a wider audience.

1. Personas
BY EXAMPLE
@AndrewUX
designthinkage.com

2. This deck was originally presented along
with specific artifacts from a real persona
project at the Brisbane UX and IxDA meetup
group. The examples have been removed in
order for me to distribute the talk more
widely.

3. Key concepts

4. Persona
"A social role or character"
Derived from the latin word
for theatrical mask

5. A persona is not...
• Made up
• A marketing segment
• A set of demographics

6. Personas focus on goals &
behaviours
• Who are your users?
• What are they trying to do?

7. A persona is a model
It highlights that which is important and
abstracts out those details which are not.

8. A persona is a way of
communicating research
Everything in a persona should be traceable
back to something you observed in research.
Ethnographic research is the approach
recommended for creating personas.
Censored

9. A persona is a composite archetype
• Represents a range of behaviours and
attitudes
• Can represent millions of people
Flickr: The SWAP Team

10. Ultimately, personas are a design
tool
They help you make better design decisions.

11. Using personas:
Helps us to focus on humans and their goals
Understand their needs and context
Give the team focus and help them prioritise

12. Good personas
=
+ +
Good
research
Good
analysis
Good
communication

13. Further reference
About Face (chapters 4 & 5)
The User is Always Right
http://asinthecity.com/2011/05/13/explaining-
personas-used-in-ux-design---part-1/

14. Thanks!
Questions?