Chapter 5: Modeling Users--Personas and Goals

Overview

The most powerful tools are simple in concept, but must be applied with some sophistication. The most powerful interaction design tool used by the authors is simple on the surface: a precise descriptive model of the user, what he wishes to accomplish, and why. The sophistication becomes apparent in the way we construct and use that model.

These user models, which we call personas, are not real people, but they are based on the behaviors and motivations of real people and represent them throughout the design process. They are composite archetypes based on behavioral data gathered from many actual users through ethnographic interviews. We discover our personas during the course of the Research phase and formalize them in the Modeling phase. By understanding our personas, we achieve an understanding of our users' goals in specific contexts—a critical tool for translating user data into design frameworks.

There are many useful models that can serve as tools for the interaction designer, but the authors feel that personas are among the strongest. This chapter focuses on personas and goals and the process for creating personas; other models are briefly considered at the end of the chapter.




About Face 2.0(c) The Essentials of Interaction Design
About Face 2.0(c) The Essentials of Interaction Design
ISBN: N/A
EAN: N/A
Year: 2006
Pages: 263

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