Hi The biggest problem I've found with personas comes when they haven't been explained fully to a client - for example a stakeholder has been forwarded the persona document, and they see the personas as representing a demographic rather than a segmentation based on likely user tasks.
I guess it's probably inevitable that the designer makes some assumptions based on the persona, but hopefully these assumptions lean more towards informed decisions if the persona has been well researched! All the best Sam www.pixelthread.co.uk 2008/11/18 Mike Stiso <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Ok, this information has been helpful. What Elizabeth and Steve say > about the statistical methods (clustering, etc.) behind persona > creation makes sense, and that kind of analysis is something that I > already do. > > The problem is that I've never witnessed nor heard of personas being > created in such a manner (which is perhaps part of a larger problem). > Rather, I see examples of personas described in an amount of detail > that would necessitate a large and comprehensive dataset, built up > iteratively based on ongoing analyses. That would be ideal, I think, > but it seems to be something of a rarity in industry, and so my > concern is that such detail is often added based just on a hunch. > > Also, classification and grouping methods have been around for a > while. If personas make use of the same methods, does persona > creation mainly involve adding another step to the process: > instantiating the different classifications into individual > characters? If so, the primary benefit of doing would seem to be the > achievement of a possible means of communication with others > (clients, developers, etc.). > > I can see using the instantiations as a focus for design, too, but > there's a risk of treating the creation as more than a statistical > representation, which could lead to assumptions about the > character's behavior, motivation, and characteristics that are based > on the designer's stereotypes rather than on actual data. However, I > can imagine that being either a good or a bad thing, depending on the > designer. > > Thanks for all the info so far. > > Mike > > > . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . > Posted from the new ixda.org > http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=35624 > > > ________________________________________________________________ > Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! > To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe > List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines > List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help > ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
