Lecture slides in Interface and Interaction Design course in Tallinn University, 9 February 2011.

1. Personas in Interaction Design
Hans Põldoja

2. cba
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons
Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Estonia License. To view a copy of
this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
ee/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 171 Second Street,
Suite 300, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA.

3. Personas as a design tool
• Determine what a product should do and how it
should behave
• Communicate with stakeholders, developers and
other designers
• Build consensus and commitment to the design
• Measure the design’s effectiveness
• Contribute to marketing
(Cooper & Reimann, 2003)

5. Personas are based on
research
• Real-world observations
• Ethnographic interviews
• Contextual inquiry
(Cooper & Reimann, 2003)

6. Ethnographic interviews
• Interview where the interaction happens
• Avoid a fixed set of questions
• Focus on the goal first, tasks second
• Avoid making the user a designer
• Avoid discussion of technology
• Avoid leading questions
• Ask for stories, demonstrations and a tour
(Cooper & Reimann, 2003)

7. Contextual inquiry
• Context: interview should take place in the
environment where the product is actually used
• Partnership
• Interpretation: reading between the lines
• Focus: direct the interview as new issues arise
(Cooper & Reimann, 2003)

8. When research is not
possible...
• Information about the users supplied by
stakeholders and subject matter experts
• Market research data such as focus groups and
surveys
• Market segmentation models
• Data gathered from literature reviews and
previous studies
(Cooper & Reimann, 2003)

9. Persona types
• Primary (1)
• Secondary (0...2)
• Supplemental
• Customer
• Served: non-users affected by the use of the
product
• Negative
(Cooper & Reimann, 2003)

10. Persona’s elements
• Photo
• Background info (age, gender, computer, tech skills,
disabilities, ...)
• Goals
• Information seeking styles
• Usability needs
(Cooper & Reimann, 2003)

11. Goals
• Goals must be inferred from qualitative data
• Each goal should be expressed as a simple
sentence
(Cooper & Reimann, 2003)

12. User goals
Life goals
✓ Be the best at what I do
✓ Learn all there is to know about this field
Experience goals
✓ Don’t feel stupid
✓ Don’t make mistakes
✓ Have fun
End goals
✓ Find the best price
✓ Process the customer’s order
(Cooper & Reimann, 2003)

13. Non-user goals
Customer goals
✓ Be sure about the child’s safety
Corporate goals
✓ Increase market share
✓ Use resources more efficiently
Technical goals
✓ Support all major browsers
✓ Maintain consistency across platforms
(Cooper & Reimann, 2003)

14. Examples

15. FeedFordward
scenario needs feature behaviour
Laura wants to set * Guidance * Wizard Laura starts the application and begins
remix your information environment up her application filling in the information in the First
Persona: Laura, 11 June 2007 so it can track her Run Wizard. It asks her for the blogs
Laura Marsden student's blogs and
post to her own
she wants to monitor, and her blog she
wants to post to. It asks her to
blog. define her contexts and she chooses
profile
"I need to "comment on student work for ..." for
each cohort she is teaching.
Laura is a lecturer in Built
Environment Studies at a traditional know what my
University. She's been experimenting
with using blogs for student work students are Initially the Radar has a lot of items,
Laura decides to *Manage attention *Mixer
and has found the experience really
good, but has had problems keeping writing about, track what her *Scan and Decide *Radar and so she decides to try the Mixer.
students have been *Defer action *Context She adjusts upwards the slider for
up with the sheer volume of posts.
As a result she hasn't been
and how it writing over the the course she is teaching tomorrow
past week so she and slides down the others. The
commenting on or highlighting
relates to the can decide whether number of posts in the radar now
particular work in a consistent and
looks a lot more manageable.
methodical manner. 'real world'" to post a comment
on their work. She
background decides rather than Laura scans the Radar and sees a good
She's also aware that also she
* 28 years old, engaged, female comment now she'll point made by one student, but which
hasn't been keeping abreast of new
* PhD in environmental design and planning do it later when would be made better with an
developments, particularly local
* Currently a lecturer in the School of Built she has more quiet appropriate reference. She drags the
construction works and planning
Environment at University time available - item to her "comment on student work
applications that would make good
* Confident experimenter with the Internet but has there's some other for..." context and continues scanning,
cases to look at with her students,
a lot of gaps in her knowledge that keep cropping up work she has to adding a few more items as she goes.
but also with new developments and
and vexing her as she doesn't feel very 'technical' do.
trends in urban planning generally.
* Has used bibliographic tools in the past but Working down the list in the
prefers to rely on a known canon of classic works She decides to *Editing control *Context
"comment on student work for..."
Laura is very enthusiastic about *Publishing control *Entry Editor
and textbooks on her bookshelf write comments context, she creates a new Entry in
using technology in her job, but *Conduits: AtomPP
and publish them and drags into it the Item she
thinks that the amount of time it attributes so that her + Trackback
selected earlier - it appears in
takes her to work with students * enthusiastic - possible early adopter students can see "references".
using her current approach will * less experienced with computers and internet the comments.
mean too much work for larger * less experienced in research
She writes a comment, and then
student groups.
saves the entry. She then drags the
user needs comment onto "Laura's Teaching
Blog". The application publishes the
* Keep up with students posts and be able to make comments
comment, and sends a Trackback
related to them
Ping to the student's blog refenced
* keep up to date with new developments, especially new
in the entry. The Entry alters its
building projects and planning applications
state to show it was published
* generate new ideas for student activities This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0
UK: England & Wales License. To view a copy of this license, visit successfully.
* effective help for when stuck http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/uk/
or send a letter to Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300,
San Francisco, California, 94105, USA.
(The FeedForward Blog, 2007a)

16. FeedForward
scenario needs feature behaviour
Zoe wants to add * Ease of use * Input Manager Zoe drags the URLs of the tags from her
remix your information environment images using browser onto a blank FeedForward
Persona: Zoe, 13 June 2007 particular Flickr InputManager. The application does a quick
Zoe Pascal tags to her mix behind-the-scenes check of the site and
discovers an RSS feed for the
photostream. It adds each one as a new
profile input source
Zoe is very enthusiastic about
"Inspire me!"
She wants to sort *Serendipity *Mixer Zoe plays with the Mixer sliders to alter
visual art, and has been working on a
and play with the *Flexibility *Radar the composition of items in the Radar. She
portfolio of pieces using a lot of uses the Tiles view of Radar, which
images to see if any *Visual sorting *Context
digital collage. She's been using shows previews in squares.
combinations look *Speed *Items View
Flickr and doing Google Image
interesting
searches, but keeps coming back to Zoe creates a new context called
a few key themes. "Friction", and opens its Storyboard. She
drags items into it from the Radar, and
She recently started on a local moves and resizes the items to make an
part-time course in Visual Arts interesting display
which has a series of structured
Zoe drags the "Friction" context onto
activities that she needs to keep on
background Zoe decides she *Flexible export *Items View
the Images conduit. The conduit pops
top of - she has two part-time wants to make a *Images Conduit
* 20 years old, single, female up a "select folder location" dialog, and
jobs, waitressing and working as a full work based on
* GCSEs Zoe selects the Desktop. FeedForward
volunteer at a community project, the items she has
* Currently studying part-time diploma in Visual inspects the items and extracts the
and sometimes finds it difficult to collected and Other scenarios image links; it then downloads the
Arts; working in a cafe
keep track of everything. arranged. She for this user: images to Zoe's Desktop.
* Like using the Internet, especially Flickr and
wants to make a
MySpace
large-scale work Course activities She constructs a collage using the
* No real interest in using bibliographic services -
so needs the full Peer monitoring printouts of the images plus a range of
prefers using books
images not other media, and then scans the result.
* Very visually-oriented
previews. Or another
persona?
attributes
* younger
* experimenter - possible early adopter, but high threshold She decides to Zoe selects "Friction" in Contexts, and
*Ease of editing *Context in the Storyboard view clicks the "New
for retention show a small
*Ease of publishing *Atom Conduit entry" icon. The Entry Editor launches,
* less experienced with computers and internet preview of her
with Attachments and she writes a quick bit of text
* less experienced in research work via her blog
feature about the work. She clicks the "image"
user needs icon in the Editor and selects the
collage JPG on her desktop. She clicks
* Be provoked by inspiring images Save, and the Entry sits on the
* Produce new collages from Internet images Storyboard.
* Keep up to date on what other students (who aren't
MySpace users) are creating She then drags the entry onto the
* Keep notified of course activities and deadlines This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 "Zoe's Blog" icon, and the application
UK: England & Wales License. To view a copy of this license, visit
* very visual mode of thinking and working http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/uk/ publishes the entry and uploads the
or send a letter to Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300,
San Francisco, California, 94105, USA. image attachment.
(The FeedForward Blog, 2007b)

17. Maria
Maria has studied information science and now she is doing her
Masterʼs studies in interactive media. At the same time she has a full
time job as a school librarian. Therefore she is interested in combining
school assignments with her work as much as possible. At the same
time she is a self-directed learner who likes to go in depth in topics that
are interesting for her.
Goals:
Personalization: “It is hard to have a full time job and be a master
student at the same time. If possible, then I try to choose assignments
that can be connected with my work.”
Scaffolding: “I feel that often it is difficult to specify all the resources
Age: 26 and actions that I have to make in order to achieve my learning
objectives. Good examples from other learners help me to refine my
Education: Master student contract.”
Occupation: librarian Awareness: “It was good that we had to review our learning
contracts. This way I was constantly aware of my objectives and
thinking about the strategy to achieve my goals.”
Photo by Alessandro Valli,
taken from http://www.flickr.com/photos/liquene/4435467897/
(LeContract blog, 2010)

18. Diana
Diana is a PhD student and university lecturer in educational sciences.
She completed her Masterʼs as a biology teacher and worked in a
school for several years. She was eager to try various pedagogical
methods and finally decided to start PhD studies in educational
sciences.
Now she is teaching a few courses in the university. One of the
methods that she is using in her courses is a personal learning
contract. She can really see how the learning contracts help some
students to improve the way they learn. On the other hand for some
students it is difficult to come up with a meaningful learning contract.
Goals:
Age: 34 Thinking in details: “I can give feedback to studentsʼ goals and help
them to refine their learning contracts already in the beginning of the
Education: PhD student course. This encourages them to think in details.”
Occupation: university lecturer Planning the learning environment: “It is good to know what kind of
resources and tools students are planning to use. This way I can
design the learning environment according to their needs.”
Staying on track: “We are reviewing the learning contracts in the
middle of the course. I can see what kind of progress the students
Photo by Russell James Smith,
taken from http://www.flickr.com/photos/russelljsmith/7006464/
have made and make necessary changes to the course.”
(LeContract blog, 2010)

19. Carl
Carl has completed BA in computer science. He worked as a
programmer for more than a decade. Carl is interested travelling,
photography, history and foreign cultures. He is also an active user of
Web 2.0 environments.
With years of experience he has become quite good photographer. A
few years ago he decided to quit his programming job and started to
work as a freelancer wedding photographer. Now he has more time for
hobbies.
He has found out that quite a few foreign universities provide online
courses in foreign cultures, history, etc. He likes the fact that he can
study many interested topics but on the other hand he is worried about
the lack of community feeling in online courses.
Age: 38
Goals:
Education: Bachelorʼs degree, taking
online courses from foreign universities Social networking: “I think that collaboration with other participants is
very important in e-learning courses. Learning contracts help me to
Occupation: photographer find other people with whom I have similar learning goals.”
Collaboration: “I realized that learning contracts are specially
valuable for group work. This way we can easily divide roles and
responsibilities in a group.”
Photo by greenkozi,
taken from http://www.flickr.com/photos/themacinator/3576296437/
(LeContract blog, 2010)

20. Jakob
Jakob is a professor of industrial design. He has been working in the
university for almost 30 years. As a designer and researcher he has
participated in many R&D projects but his real love is teaching.
In last few years Jakob has decided to spend less time on projects and
travelling. This means that he has more time for preparing his courses
and trying out different things. He has experimented with blogs and
social software. In his last course he decided to try personal learning
contracts. It took quite a lot of time but he hopes that learning
contracts will help him to give a more personal learning experience for
his students.
Goals:
Age: 58 Adjusting the course: “I would like to know what the students expect
to learn in my course. Then I can adjust the course assignments
Education: PhD according to their needs.”
Occupation: professor Personalized support: “I want to give more personalized guidance
and support for my students.”
Fair grading: “I donʼt like grading but in some courses I am required to
do it. I have found that learning contracts help me on fair grading. I rely
on learning contracts when I negotiate grades with my students.”
Photo by Jesse Courtemanche,
taken from http://www.flickr.com/photos/jesse757/4170721132/
(LeContract blog, 2010)

21. Some suggestions

22. Some suggestions
• Start brainstorming with sticky notes
• Keep certain persons in mind but combine their
goals and descriptions into personas
• Mindmapping helps when writing persona
descriptions

23. Teemu
Examples Hans
Mart
To get a quick overview of latest posts in
the course
Goals To have multiple ways for browsing the
course
To give better feedback for the students
Primary persona
34 years old lecturer, long time doctoral
student, has background in education but
is quite technically savvy, early adopter of
new technologies, has long experience in
online learning, wantʼs to try out
something different in each course, is
participating in several projects and
Description travelling quite often, has a constant lack
of time, often reads the blog posts from his
iphone but is planning to write comments
later, sometimes leaves the laptop at work
and writes comments from his iPad.
Understands that the technology may
Anne Examples have certain limitations when it is still
under development.
To have one learning platform that
satisfies all her needs
Goals Terje
Negative persona
To customize the learning platform Examples
according to her taste and needs Kairit
... Description To create a functional learning community
To give support and feedback for all
Goals students
Krista EduFeedr personas Secondary persona
To use course data for research purposes
Marge Examples
28 years old PhD student, teaching her
Marko second online course, average computer
user, experienced in using web 2.0 tools,
Description very systematic, wants to use course data
To be sure that the system is reliable for research purposes. Wantʼs to have a
reliable system. Is using desktop RSS
To get teachers using the system Educational technologist Customer persona reader in addition to EduFeedr.
Not to spend too much time on supporting Goals
the users Varje
Examples
Heikki
To get statistics about the use in their
institution
Not to spend to much time on managing
... the course
Description
Goals To make students to submit their
Teacher assignments on time
To be sure that the system is reliable
Teacher in a vocational school, has some
experience both in using Moodle and in
Description using social software. Wantʼs to have his
Supplemental personas first blog-based course. Is not using RSS
reader.
Maris
Examples Elyna
Ilya
Student
To find inspiration from other student
blogs
Goals
To explore other open courses
Description ...

24. Teemu
Examples Hans
Mart
To get a quick overview of latest posts in
the course
Goals To have multiple ways for browsing the
course
To give better feedback for the students
Primary persona
34 years old lecturer, long time doctoral
student, has background in education but
is quite technically savvy, early adopter of
new technologies, has long experience in
online learning, wantʼs to try out
something different in each course, is
participating in several projects and
Description travelling quite often, has a constant lack
of time, often reads the blog posts from his
iphone but is planning to write comments
later, sometimes leaves the laptop at work
and writes comments from his iPad.
Understands that the technology may
have certain limitations when it is still
under development.

25. Finding photos
• Royalty free photos: http://www.sxc.hu
• Creative Commons licensed photos: http://
www.flickr.com/creativecommons/by-2.0/

27. Design each interface
for a single primary
persona.
(Cooper & Reimann, 2003)

28. References
• Cooper, A., Reinmann, R. (2003). About Face 2.0: The Essentials of Interaction
Design. Indianapolis, IN: Wiley Publishing, Inc.
• The FeedForward Blog (2007a). How Laura uses FF. http://blogs.cetis.ac.uk/
feedforward/2007/10/18/how-laura-uses-ff/
• The FeedForward Blog (2007b). How Zoe uses FF. http://blogs.cetis.ac.uk/
feedforward/2007/10/24/how-zoe-uses-ff/
• LeContract blog (2010). http://blog.lecontract.org

29. Photos
• Nicolas Nova, http://www.flickr.com/photos/nnova/2081056587/

30. Thank You!
• hans.poldoja@tlu.ee
• http://imkedesign.wordpress.com