Personas

A persona is a hypothetical user archetype used throughout the design process. Personas are not users, rather they are amalgamations of user goals, motivations, and behaviors seen in data from real people. The persona will include a description not only of the goals, but also of the characteristics of the user archetype: skills, attitudes, etc.

Primary personas are used to define the most common types of users.

Persona elements

• Group (e.g. university students)
• Job titles/responsibilities
• Demographics: age, education, ethnicity, family status
• Goals and tasks
• Physical, social, and technological environment

Primary persona

Demonstrates key goals and behavior patterns. If the design fails for a primary persona, the product will fail.
Each primary persona may require a different interface.

For the example of a family electronic calendar, we have the possible primary personas:

• Stacy: career mom
• Kyle: stay-at-home dad
• Adam: forgetful teenager

Scenarios

Narrative is a powerful design tool.

A scenario is an informal narrative description of users or personas using artifacts within environments to carry out tasks and activities.

Scenarios focus on the current state of users' activities and exclude the proposed system.

Scenarios have all the elements of narratives: characters, conflict, plot, resolution.

Creation of work

• Create a list of the possible personas
• Try to identify their respective scenarios