Question: Personas, Scenarios and User Journeys in A1

29 Mar 2023,2:49 AM

 

4. Forming skeletons into personas

Develop 2-3 of the most relevant skeletons into persona cards – we’re looking for ones that have pain points.

· Name and archetype (E.g. “Sally the Independent Studier” “Simon the Team Player”) · A description of the persona’s needs or concerns

· A description of the persona’s immediate goals in using the service · A description of the persona’s attributes/abilities/experience

· A quote that sums the persona’s primary needs.

 

5. Digitise the Persona card using one of the digital tools listed in the Week 03 Pre-Seminar Activities.

 

 

Demographics

· Age. How old are your users?

· Gender. How does your user population divide by gender?

· Income and purchasing power. If your product is for personal use, what is your users’ household income? What economic possibilities and constraints do they face as individuals and as within families?

· Location. Are your users urban, suburban, or rural? Do they come from certain regions, a certain country, or are they spread out all over the world?

· Company size. If your product or service is for a business, how big is the company? How much money does it make? Where does it operate?

 

Technological (attitudes)

· Hardware ownership and access. Do they own the equipment or device? Is it their personal equipment or is it shared? Is it owned by their employer?

· Connectivity. What connections do they have to the Internet or other data and communications services? How do they connect, and how often? Expense?

· Experience. How have they been using any relevant technologies? How comfortable are they with them?

 

Environment

· Use location. Do they use your product or service at home? At work? While moving about in a city? While traveling or commuting?

· Use time. Are they going to be using the product during work or during their off hours? Will they be using it first thing in the morning, when they’ve just returned from the opera, or after the day’s last milking?

· Tool context. What other things do they use or do at the same time as they’re using your product? How important are their tools? How does your product fit in with them? How often are they interrupted while using it? Who uses it with them?

· Competition. What products or services are competing for your users’ attention? What is the nature of the competition? What benefits do competing products offer?

 

Lifestyle/Psychographic

· Cultural. Particularly in global or cross-cultural research you can’t assume that your research stakeholders share users’ languages, religious commitments, definitions of emotional and physical health, family responsibilities, etc. Personas can help you tease these out.

· Values and attitudes. What do your customers value as individuals? What is important in their lives? Thrift? Speed? Fun? Comfort? What has their experience been with services like yours?

· Media. What kinds of media do they access & turn to? Activities. What else are they into in their lives?

 

Roles

· Titles. Even if the people involved don’t have official titles, they will likely have some specific name for what they do—such as “teacher,” “parent,” “fan.”

· Responsibilities. What are job responsibilities of each group? What do they get rewarded for (both formally and informally)? How?

· Training. How did they learn to use the product? Did theyeducate themselves or receive training?

· Power. What is their responsibility for the product? Do they choose it, or are they assigned to it?

· Relationships. Whom do they consult when making a choice? Whom do they work with?

 

 

 

Scenarios

 

A1 Task: You need to select one of your personas and create a context scenario for that persona. Remember to select a persona that has relevant/significant pain points – preferably the one with the biggest issue.

 

1. Brainstorming Context Scenarios

· Brainstorm 2-3 different context scenarios for your persona. Write your possible context scenarios on post-its under your persona. For example, “Sally the Independent Studier wants to book a library study space but cannot locate the web page on the library website.”

· Use the Scenarios information on the next page for guidance on understanding “Context”.

 

2. Writing Draft Context Scenarios

· Choose one context scenario for your persona and write up a full context scenario (paragraph).

· The scenario should include information from the persona regarding their needs or concerns, immediate goals, and personal attributes.

 

3. Write up Final Scenario in Digital form

· Write the final scenario in a box or outline to distinguish it from the rest of your report text. It’s a good idea to include the persona name up the top, so it is clear which persona the scenario relates to.

 

 

What are Scenarios?

A scenario is a description of a persona using a product to achieve a goal. They describe an instance of use in context. Scenarios are usually narratives that tell a story describing one or more tasks in a specific environmental situation. For the design of services and systems we can use scenarios to understand and communicate what activities our system needs to support. Scenarios are flexible and can become more detailed throughout the project life-cycle. They should focus on the activities people do and the context in which they do them. They help focus design efforts on the user’s requirements, which are distinct from technical or business requirements. They are also particularly good for discussing requirements with stakeholders who do not have any technical background. Scenarios are the plot and personas the characters.

 

Why Use Them

·     They can provide a vehicle for communication as well as a mechanism to explore design solutions. ·   They help mediate the thinking and communication required in design.

·     They are concrete yet flexible enough to change and morph in detail as the project progresses.

·     They help us understand the flow of experience and are tools for thinking about design (they help us reflect and reason)

· They help us present and situate solutions · They help identify potential problems

·     They are easily understandable by all stakeholders as they are story-like

·     They can provide rich descriptions of use in context which can spark ideas and inform design ·         They help determine if the design solution is appropriate

·     They can help us see social factors and help understand a user’s multi-channel experience (i.e. on and off-line).

 

When to use them

·     They can be used in the beginning of a project to help fleshout requirements. ·       They can be used as tools to explore design solutions.

·     They can be used to validate designs and reveal design assumptions.

·     They can be used to hang specifications and wire-frames off within documentation. ·     They can be used by testers to test the final designs.

·     They can be used for competitor analysis whereby a scenario can be used to compare a variety of sites to each other.

 

Understanding context

The following should be considered for each persona:

·     Goals: What is the user trying to accomplish? How do the user’s actions fit into the objectives of the organization?

·     Process: What are the steps the user will follow? How does information flow from one step to the next? What are the various roles (creator, contributor, editor, approver) that are involved?

·     Inputs & Outputs: What materials and information will the user need to successfully use the ·      interface? What will they need from the interface to continue with their overarching goals? ·       Experience: What similar things has the user done in their past? How has the organization

survived without this design in the past?

·     Constraints: What physical, temporal, or financial constraints are likely to impose themselves on the user’s work?

·     Physical Environment: How much room does the user have to work? What materials on their desk?

·     What access do they have to necessary information (such as user manuals)? What is taped to their monitor?

·     Tools In use: What hardware and software does the user currently use?

·     Relationships: What are the interconnections between the primary user and other people who are affected by the tool?

 

 

 

User Journey

 

A1 Task: Create a User Journey for your persona based on the context scenario you have created above.

 

1. Walk through

· Embody/portray the user persona as they moves through the context scenario. As the Persona moves through the scenario, convey their thoughts, feelings and actions out loud and make notes about what you are observing.

 

2. Draft the User Journey

· Using the information (steps noted above) draw up a User Journey for your scenario. Make it clear in the journey where the Pain Points occurred and the thoughts and feelings that are experienced throughout the journey.

 

3. Digitise your User Journey

· Using one of the digital tools outlined in the Week 03 folder under Pre-Seminar Activities, turn your draft into a digital, more polished, professional-looking version. Compile your User Journey with your Personas and Context Scenarios.

 

 

 

This document acts as a guide for what is required in the 1200word report for A1. Do not use it as a template, but rather as a guide or checklist for what should be included. Please refer back to the assessment criteria and rubric to ensure you are meeting the requirements of the task.

 

Professional formatting standards

• Page numbers
• Headings and sub-headings as needed to make your analysis easier to read and follow.
• Ensure you have edited and proofread your work before submission.
• Headers (name of your analysis) and Footers (your name and student ID number)

 

Title Page

This is where you should include your:

• Full name
• Student ID number
• Tutor’s full name and seminar number/day/time
• Assessment task (e.g. A1: User Experience Analysis)
• Case study/topic (e.g. SBS on Demand).
• Submission date

 

Report Structure

Introduction/Context

This is where you provide the context for your selected case study. The introduction should outline what the analysis entails, including the necessary context for your case study such as what the business/app is and where it was founded etc.

 

Research and Findings

You will need to decide how you want to separate this content using headings and sub-headings. You can use the A1 Brief dot points as a guide or another structure, as long as the information flows logically for the reader.

 

The main body of your report is where you need to discuss the research you have conducted for your case study. What did you look at? What did you find out through your investigations? Where did you find the information? What academic articles/other industry-related articles have you used to support your research into your expert area and to understand the UX concepts you are using? Use visuals to support this as well (tables, graphs, annotated or captioned screen shots etc.). You should provide a summary of the findings or outcomes of your research.

 

Conclusion

Provide a succinct conclusion that synthesises the key research and findings.

 

 

Suggested Word Count

The report is 1200 words excluding references and appendices (and words used to create your personas). Below is an example of the spread of word count. You do not have to follow this, but it is an example or guide.

 

• Introduction (100 words)
• Users, user segmentation and user needs (200 words)
• Pain Points (50 words)
• Personas (150 words)
• Context Scenario and User Journey (250 words)
• Client needs (100 words)
• Competitor Analysis (250 words including text in tables)
• Conclusion (100 words)

 

Images and Graphics

Images and graphics should be legible (easy to read and understand) and should contain a caption/figure that clearly outlines what the image is and where it was sourced (if not created by you). You can easily create a caption in Word by right-clicking on the image and selecting “Insert Caption”. For example:

 

 

Figure 1: Disneyland diagram showing the various land's nodes (Arango 2017).

 

Your own images:

If you have taken or created the image or graphic yourself then there is no need to cite/reference it.

 

Someone else’s images:

If you are using images or graphics that you intend to edit (e.g. for your personas etc.) then you need to ensure that:

1. They are sourced from creative commons sites, where permission to use and/or edit has been given.
2. You provide a citation and reference for it. Remember to use the UTS Harvard or APA 7 referencing guide to ensure it is correctly formatted. Pick one referencing style and be consistent.

 

If you are not intending to edit the image, but just use it as is, then you can use any images, as long as you caption/figure, cite and reference it.

 

Annotating your images:

Where needed, you can also annotate your images to draw attention to a particular aspect of the image. Use the “Insert” tab to use boxes, lines, text boxes etc.

 

 

 

The various nodes of Disneyland’s lands.

 

 

 

 

References

Sources:

This is where you must list all the sources you have used/referred to support your analysis. This should include set and extra readings provided to you already, other academic and industry sources you have located yourself, as well as sources specifically around your case study/app and client’s industry context. This also includes all your images used that are not your own.

 

Formatting:

Sources should be formatted using either UTS Harvard style or APA 7 (both in the reference list and the in-text citations) and the reference list should list sources alphabetically. Do not number or bullet list your entries, just list them alphabetically. Make sure you pick one style and stick with it.

• Note: This section is not included in your word count.

 

Appendices

This is where you can include your raw data (e.g., elements of your competitor analysis spreadsheet etc.) or any other visuals you have created for the report that did not fit into the body of the report (personas etc.). Please do not try and copy and paste the entire competitor analysis spreadsheet, but rather screen shot relevant sections.

 

Remember to number your appendices and refer to them in the body of your report.

 

• Note: This section is not included in your word count.