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Personas & Low Fidelity Prototyping User-Centered Design Seminar April 24, 2008. Calgary Chapter of the IIBA John Johnston and Cristin Witcher. The Presenters. John Johnston. Cristin Witcher. MA in History COBOL programer Web developer 8 years analysis 3 years at TW Recent convert
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Personas & Low Fidelity PrototypingUser-Centered Design SeminarApril 24, 2008 Calgary Chapter of the IIBA John Johnston and Cristin Witcher
The Presenters John Johnston Cristin Witcher • MA in History • COBOL programer • Web developer • 8 years analysis • 3 years at TW • Recent convert • to UCD • studied Leadership Studies in university • practicing User-Centered Design since 2001 • joined TW this past July • actively noodling on the joint between Agile • methods and UCD
Agenda • Tell them what you’re going to tell them. • Tell them. • Designs we love, and designs we love to hate • Personas and low-fi prototypes in action – a recent example • The techniques explained – how to create personas and test out prototypes on your projects • Tell them what you told them.
The bad Oh the irony…
The ugly Go on, open the windows. We dare you.
How to get in the right camp How do we make sure we land in the right camp?
Find Estimate Compare
Treatment Cost Calculator Personas 1 2 3 4 5 6 Michael Murphy Nicole Tafoya Christopher Reynolds James Lee Peggy Henderson Ginger Wheeler • College Graduate • Computer Savvy • Knee Injury • High Deductible • Cost Conscious • Researching • Procedure Costs • Comfortable User • 22 Weeks Pregnant • Concerned with • Information Quality • Pricing Medications • Comparing • Procedure Costs • Cost is one of • Several Factors • Accessing from • Employer Portal • Not a Regular PC • User • Planning for FSA • Estimating Annual • Costs Associated • with his Daughter’s • Asthma • School Librarian • Early Stage Breast • Cancer • Looking to make • Best Possible • Personal Health • Decision • Graduate Degree • Busy Professional • Migraine Headaches • Pricing Different • Facilities for an MRI • Health Advocate • Helps Clients with • Involved Medical / • Benefits Profiles • Manages Hundreds • of Cases • Currently Helping • Patient Price • Prescription Costs
Michael Murphy27 Years Old | Chicago, IL | Single, No Children • Mike graduated from college about five years ago and is now working as a tax accountant for a large firm in Chicago. He spends the majority of his day in front of a computer, typically using email and spreadsheet applications. • Mike recently injured his knee playing basketball after work with some friends. He tried to ignore it for a few days, but the swelling has gotten bad and he is having a difficult time walking. Mike has not yet seen a doctor, but he is going to have to go to his family physician sooner rather than later. Mike grew up in the suburbs of Chicago and still has a doctor there that he’s been seeing since he was in high school. • As a young, healthy guy Mike had no need to enroll in one of the more extensive healthcare plans offered by his employer. His premiums are low but his deductible is high, and has not yet been even close to satisfied. • Mike wants to do some research to better understand his injury and what potential treatments are likely to cost. In his mind the worst case scenario would be knee surgery. He specifically wants an idea of the cost of surgery and subsequent physical therapy. “ I never get sick, so I didn’t choose great insurance coverage from my employer. I have a bad feeling that this knee is going to be expensive. ”
Doing it yourself • These are techniques of • user-centered design • Do it early on (then keep doing it) • Huge value in project scoping or inception
Why Personas? Personas help us… remember the application is not for us
Why Personas? Personas help us… communicate with the team
Why Personas? Personas help us… design and test
But How? Identify behaviour patterns not job descriptions
But How? Identify scenarios (Persona + Goal + Environment)
But How? Start with real data (if you can)
Bring in your own observations… Visioning sessions Contextual Inquiries Personal assumptions Stakeholder interviews
And the greatest of these is Visioning sessions Contextual Inquiries Personal assumptions Stakeholder interviews 27
Personas “ Personas are actually the designer’s focused act of empathetic imagination, grounded in first-hand user knowledge. ” Andrew Hinton boxesandarrows.com
Top Tips • Name / Photo • Role • Quotes • Demographics • Goals / Motivations • Pain Points • Primary Activities • Design Imperatives • Keep your persona set small • Add life to the personas, but remember they're design tools first • Use the right goals (3 or 4 each) • Experience goals describe how the persona wants to feel when using a product. • Should be based on research where possible
Why Low-Fi Prototyping? Invite people into the design
Why Low-Fi Prototyping? Experiment & iterate (on the cheap)
Why Low-Fi Prototyping? communicate design ideas
Why Low-Fi Prototyping? define application scope
Why Low-Fi Prototyping? usability test early on • Test anyone you can get • You aren’t testing them • Give them a goal • Get them to think aloud • One person is the computer • One person facilitates • One person observes
What do you need? school supplies!
What do you need? know your personas & goals
And then… • Host a design studio • Tack up a screen and start doodling • Get sketching / brainstorm • - do one design • - then another • - and a third!
Demo DANGER!
How the process worked… Too many assumptions, not enough certainties Carry the personas throughout the development lifecycle for consistency Actuaries and developers like to play with markers It’s easier to make design decisions in the absence of color and graphics It doesn’t cost anything to let the guy with crazy ideas help with design Higher-Fidelity works for demos, maybe not design iterations Usability testing reveals bad taxonomy Just because it’s looking finished, doesn’t mean it is
Telling you what we told you… • Principles of good design in the real word apply to software too • Users often != customers • Use Personas to help make your requirements gathering user-centered • Use Low-Fi prototypes to quickly generate ideas andfeedback 46
Useful References Websites • http://www.boxesandarrows.com/view/personas-and-the • http://www.cooper.com/newsletters/2001_07/perfecting_your_personas.htm • http://www.steptwo.com.au/papers/kmc_personas/ • http://www.guuui.com/browse.php?cid=128 • http://www.alistapart.com/ • http://designcomics.org/ Books • Don’t Make Me Think Steve Krug • The Persona Lifecycle : Keeping People in Mind Throughout Product Design John Pruitt and Tamara Adlin • Sketching User Experiences: Getting the Design Right and the Right Design Bill Buxton