Slides from a glass on personas I gave at General Assembly Melbourne. Might not make a lot of sense without commentary next time i will record it i promise.

1. PERSONAS
Where product meets consumer needs
Tim Evans
Experience Designer

2. Before we start 2
Everything is designed,
few things are designed well.
-Brian reed

3. 3

4. 4
Check out
Doctor as
Designer on
medium

5. 5
One-hundred doctors were recruited to test the device. Only two doctors
(2%) demonstrated all 6 administration steps correctly. 95% of doctors
had to read the instructions.
In 37% of cases, the demonstration would not have delivered adrenaline
to a patient.
The most frequent errors were:
(57%) not holding the pen in place for >5 seconds
(21%) failure to apply pressure to activate
(16%) self-injection into the thumb.
Mehr S, Robinson M, Tang M. Doctor: how do I use my EpiPen? Pediatr Allergy Immunol. 2007;18:448–452
How hard can it be?

6. 6
The Edwards brothers said the device
was special because it was designed by
people who were intimately familiar with
patients’ needs.
“This was something that I knew I was
going to carry with me every single day.”
Designing with empathy

7. 7

8. 8
“We put ourselves
in the customer’s
shoes and say,
what do we want?”

9. WHAT ARE
PERSONAS?
PERSONAS

10. What are Personas?
A persona is a “hypothetical
archetype” or character who
represents a group of users. It’s
used to understand their goals,
behaviours, attitudes and context
in which they operate.
10

11. What are Personas?
Personas come in a variety
of forms
11
Foxtel iQ3 : Discover phase findings May 2013 | Commercial in Confidence 212 Massive Interactive Pty Ltd.5
Viewing
By myself With others
Open to new experiences
Timid Adventurous
Information Seeking
Sit back Hunt it out
Organisation
Too much work Will spend time
Learning
By accident Play until get it
Technology I own
The basics All the latest
Tech Ability
Luddite Wired
Social Networks
Not for me Awesome
Wealth
Struggling Affluent
Challenges
Is often distracted, concentration
is low, wont read or seek out
information
Is capable and will play around
until she figures it out if the
perceived value is high enough.
Stumbles on new content
through friends and ads.
Discovering & Learning
Decision Making
Technology
Will wait, not in a rush for the
newest technology as it out-
dates quickly.
Waits for contracts to run out
before upgrading
Uses skype to talk to her parents.
I record too much
I’ll often record so much that I
don’t have time to watch it all, I
think when am I going to catch
up on all of this.
I’m not sure when my
episodes are on.
Sometimes I miss the start of my
favourite shows as I don’t know
when they are on. I’ll be chatting
with a girlfriend and they start
talking about the new episodes
and I’m thinking how did I miss
this.
It’s all about the kids at the moment!
I’m busy looking after the kids.
I don’t want to spend a lot of time
and effort finding something to
watch. I’ll record a show, to watch
later when the kids are in bed, that
way I can skip the ads .
It’s cheaper at the DVD store
When my husbands home we will
go to the DVD store and rent a film
as its $2 rather than pay $6 with
Foxtel. We had the movie channel
and let it go as it was too expensive
and not enough choice.
Kellie: Help me make the right choice
“Sometimes I’ll record a show and
forget to press +20 and it doesn’t
record the end, it’s another thing
to remember”
Doesn’t have time to think about
what to watch.
Recording shows that won’t get
watched.
Missing the start of new season
episodes.
Resistance to paying more
Has to think carefully about her
spending as money is tight, likes a
bargain or special offer.
Makes all the day to day household
decisions.
Wants to avoid effort will use the
EPG for laziness.
Kellie is married to Pete, they have two children Chloe 5 and Josh 3. They are
currently renting but are hoping to buy something within the next year as Kellie
really likes the area, it has a good school and plenty of parks for the kids.
Pete travels away for work so Kellie spends a lot of time at home with just the
kids. She likes to have the TV on as background company when Pete is away, it
keeps her from feeling lonely.
Kellie has been with Foxtel for 4 years, she expects Foxtel to offer her more
choice for her money especially as money is tight at the moment and they have
after all spent lots of money with Foxtel.
Age: 28
Occupation: Home maker
Location: Maitland, NSW
Needs:
Reduce her channels to what is in her package.
Make free content more obvious.
Reminders notifications - start dates for new seasons.
Being rewarded for loyalty as a long term subscriber.
Favourite Channels Favourite Brands & Apps

12. What are Personas?
The level of detail
and focus of a
persona depends
on the product or
service and our
relationship with
our team and client.
12

13. 13Details
Mailchimp
Personas

14. 14Context

15. 15More details
Isobar
Persona for
Foxtel

16. 16More stats

17. 17
Who is this user?
What are their goals?
How do they behave?
What do they think?
What are their pain points?
What is the context in which they operate?
Personas help inform

18. 18
Tell me a story, give me the facts
Personas help you design with empathy

19. WHEN &
HOW TO SELL
PERSONAS
PERSONAS

20. 20When to use personas
To make users part of the design process
As a focal point to galvanise a team
If a team is removed from the users
When there are multiple user types

21. I’M GOING TO NEED YOU
TO GO AND FORGET
ABOUT THE PERSONAS

22. 22
Create personas during the research phase to
help identify and empathise with users

23. 23
During ideation and definition use personas to
qualify ideas

24. 24
In test and prototype they form a basis for
recruitment

25. 25
Personas also form the basis for website and
service live optimisation / customisation

26. 26But wait there’s more
Use them as a tool to engage clients with human
entered design
Identify opportunity and areas for innovation
Provide focus on core features to ensure speed
to market
Measure effectiveness of current and future
solutions

27. SOME TIPS ON
CREATION
PERSONAS

28. 28Common elements (all optional)
Name
Occupation
Quote
Capability sliders
Story
Pain points
Goals
Devices

29. 29Talk to the boss

30. 30Talk to the front line staff

31. 31Talk to the marketing team

32. 32Bring them together to talk about the findings

33. 33Create a plan
What do we know?
What do we want to find out?
Who are we talking to?
Where will this take place?
How long do we have?
What will the outcomes be?

34. 34Adding some more data
quantitative qualitative

35. 35Tell me the facts
quantitative
Data from
reportable sources
with numerical
characteristics

36. 36Quantitive data
‣Online Traffic Analytics - GA / Omnivore
‣Marketing demographics - Nielsen
‣Australian Bureau of Statistics
‣Survey respondents
‣Social media analysis
‣Google insights
‣Harvard business review / Gartner

37. 37Agency reports / white papers

38. 38Tell me a story
Data direct from user
observations and
interaction, usually
difficult to measure
numerically
qualitative

39. 39Interviews

40. 40Shadowing / Contextual inquiry

41. 41Diary studies

42. 42Focus groups

43. ANALYSING
THE DATA
PERSONAS

44. 44Analysing the data
Combine data sets
Group data and look for patterns
Define the user segments
Define measures to be used
Discuss and refine
Conduct additional research

45. 45Affinity mapping

46. Q&A
15Personas

47. LET’S HAVE A
CRACK
PERSONAS

48. 48The task - Metro 2020

49. KEY OBJECTIVES
Who do we think will be there?
What behaviours are we going
to see?
Quick assumptions at hand
AGENDA
5 minutes 1. List all of the different user groups we
expect to see at the station
DELIVERABLE
N/A
7
RESOURCES
‣ Sticky notes
‣ Sharpies
This would be
done with the
business before
research begins

50. 50The task
Guerrilla research to help understand
consumers in and around Flinders st station
No interactions with users shadowing /
observation only
15-30 minutes

51. 51
Who is this user?
What are their goals?
How do they behave?
What do they think?
What are their pain points?
What is the context in which they operate?
Things to look for

52. 52Examples
Quantity over
quality is key for
this exercise

53. 53
LETS GET BUSY

54. ANALYSIS
PERSONAS

55. KEY OBJECTIVE
Affinity Mapping
Analysis
AGENDA
10 minutes 1. Group any patterns that emerge.
Understand & Discuss as a group
7
Affinity map ‣ Sticky notes
‣ Sharpies

56. INTERVIEWS
PERSONAS

57. KEY OBJECTIVES
Face to face interview
Interviews
AGENDA
10 minutes
DELIVERABLE
Interview notes
7
RESOURCES
‣ Sticky notes
‣ Sharpies
1. Find out as much as you can about your
designated user onto the interview sheet
2. Use 5x Why’s exercise

58. CREATION
PERSONAS

59. KEY OBJECTIVES
Basic Persona Creation
PERSONA CREATION EXERCISE
AGENDA
20 minutes 1. Looking at the templates which one do
we feel is best suited?
2. Generate personas based on data at
handDELIVERABLE
Persona draft
7
RESOURCES
‣ Sticky notes
‣ Sharpies

60. TESTING
THEM OUT
PERSONAS

61. KEY OBJECTIVES
Testing personas on current
products
PERSONA CREATION EXERCISE
AGENDA
10 minutes 1. Test out the personas on the metro
website, PT app, tram tracker
DELIVERABLE
N/A
7
RESOURCES
‣ Apps
‣ Laptop / internet

62. SOME QUICK
TIPS
PERSONAS

63. 63Try to avoid
Bland personas
Personas which are too stereotypical
No real data
No first hand knowledge
Smashing
magazine have a
couple of good
persona guides

64. 64Involve the team and client

65. 65Use real stories
Video is a great
format to capture
these stories and
costs very little

66. 66Make them part of discussion

67. 67
Smashing Magazine has some easy to read resources
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2014/08/06/a-closer-look-at-personas-part-1/
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2014/08/13/a-closer-look-at-personas-part-2/
Interaction design foundation has the most exhaustive explanation
https://www.interaction-design.org/encyclopedia/personas.html
Cooper was a keen proponent for personas as part of goal directed design
http://www.dubberly.com/articles/alan-cooper-and-the-goal-directed-design-process.html
And his book
http://www.itu.dk/people/russel/B%F8ger/Pearson.-.The.Inmates.Are.Running.the.Asylum.pdf
Other resources

68. 68Other resources - random user generator

69. 69Other resources - fake identity generator

70. Q&A
15How to create Personas

71. EL
FIN
15Personas