It seems like every time this topic comes up, weird logic is used to conclude that personas have little value, e.g.:
1. Personas done with little to none or poor research (i.e. marketing demographics and segments) result in bad personas. 2. Many people create personas this way. Therefore...based on 1 + 2, personas have little value (because most of them are created this way). It seems simple to me...just because some people don't do them well and their personas don't end up helping their organization's design process, this doesn't really map to personas done well having little value. I have personally found lots of value in the process of focusing on exactly what Dan said below, i.e. the Cooper version (goals, motivations, and behaviors). The last time I used personas, it turned out really well; I started with the three market segments the client thought represented their customers...I interviewed 24 people in and around the context of use (8 people for each segment)...and I ended up with 4 personas that better represented the people and their needs, motivations, behaviors, etc than the starting 3 segments. The four personas gave a completely different view than the three segments, and the clients agreed. These personas then were very valuable for making design decisions. Done well, they just feel right, as long as they're based on real people in real contexts. Joel On Mon, Mar 9, 2009 at 11:59 AM, Dan Saffer <d...@odannyboy.com> wrote: > On Mar 9, 2009, at 6:25 AM, Megan Grocki wrote: > >> What do you think, has an inherent gap been revealed in the >> usefulness of personas as we know them? Has anyone else gotten this >> sense, and if so, can personas be redeemed? > > I'm skeptical myself. Which is why I wrote this a few years ago: > > <http://www.adaptivepath.com/ideas/essays/archives/000524.php> > > The gist of the article: > > "Half of the personas out there are entirely made up, with no user research > to back them. In most cases, no one on the design team has talked directly > to users to find out who they are, so designers come up with an idea of a > user type. The resulting personas are like the designer’s imaginary > friends." > > "The greatest pitfall with personas is that most of them focus on the wrong > things. Differences between personas are often chosen based on demographics > and preferences, not the things that really matter, like goals, motivations, > and behaviors." > > "The differences between personas must be based on these deeper issues — > what people do (actions or projected actions), and why they do them (goals > and motivations) — and not as much on who people are." > > > Dan > > Dan Saffer > Principal, Kicker Studio > http://www.kickerstudio.com > http://www.odannyboy.com > > > > ________________________________________________________________ > Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! > To post to this list ....... disc...@ixda.org > 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 ....... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
