This Summary is Still In Progress This summary is still a work in progress, and is actively being worked on. Documenting the persona creation process is still in progress. We'll continue to flesh this out and add details as time permits.

Creating Personas

Give the persona a name

• Add a picture

Avoid a real person

• Creating an archetype

Be precise

• More important than accurate
• Don't oversimplify
  • May be a spend a lot of time texting friends and be a wiz at Facebook but gets confused by multiple browser windows or tabs.
• User persona not a buyer or manager (of users) persona
  • Must be satisfied
  • Will have specific interface, separate and unique.

• Personas are contextual and specific to the particular problem space and application or service.

Goals not Tasks

• Goals and the reasons they perform tasks.
• Good interaction design is objective not subjective.
  • Do they achieve their goal
• Tasks change as technology changes.
• Goals tend to remain stable.
• Design system interaction using goals, not tasks:
  • Practical Goals (e.g. avoid meetings, be efficient)
  • Personal Goals (e.g. not feel stupid, get an adequate amount of work done, have fun)
  • Business Goals (e.g. increase student enrollment, get good professors, quality education)
• False Goals (means not ends)
  • Save memory
  • Save keystrokes
  • Speed up data entry
  • Be easy to learn
  • Use cool technology or features

Begins with Investigation

• Site Visits
• Interviews
  • Everyone on project: Sponsors, Managers, Workers, Users
  • Job Shadowing
  • Contextual Inquiries
  • Previous data & research
• Create many initially...narrow them down...

Identifying Personas - Synthesizing the Raw Data

• Who are these people?
  • Skills, abilities and interests
  • Business goals
  • Relevant personal goals
• How do they relate to technology?
  • Highly skilled developer who sounds like a dolphin?
  • Technophobes who won't even look at a monitor?
  • Something in between? 

Diagrams and instructions to come....