design from persona

Why do I have to create the persona? It is so tedious and I don't see how the persona can help me design what I need to?

I have to agree with my students that creating persona is in fact a very tedious task and ... it may seem to be a wasted activity. I don't blame them. I ask those question years back. 

Creating persona is a process and by itself will not solve any design problem. But it is the starting point for any design endeavour for a simple fact that understanding your users is the key to developing a successful design ... if you subscribe to the user-centred or goal-oriented design methodology.

The issue with persona is not so much of what it is but how - that is, how to create an effective one and how to apply the understanding to design.

If you simply create the persona based on your imagination or your pre-conceived idea of a fictitious person, it will not do you any good.

A good persona is created by observing the real people in action, talking to various stakeholders to find out what people do and how they do it, what their goals and needs are, and finally using your common sense or experience to make sense of all these findings.

In other words, you will need to go through the process of requirements gathering, analysing, and designing.

Take for example the library navigation project currently undertaken by a three-person student-team, the sample personas can be crafted as follows:

Jessie Chai	Hey, I want to borrow the books/media resources or book/use rooms.
Goals	When I've decided to go to the library, I am there to look for a specific resource I need.
Behaviours	When I am at the library, I want to: search for the resources I have in mind; borrow the resource or book the room; locate the resource quickly;
James Koh	I just want to have a drink at a cool and cozy corner.
Goals	When I've decided to go to the library, I am there to have a drink at the Internet cafe either alone or with my friends;
Behaviours	When I am at the library, I want to have a drink, surf the net, chat with friends, and/or read a book or magazine.
Eugene Lim	I don't visit the library - I used Internet to find what I want.
Goals	When I've decided to go to the library, I am there to explore the library resources that I might have an interest in.
Behaviours	When I am at the library, I want to know the resources that I might be interested in, and I want to get things started quickly, locate them and explore further.

How could we use the persona in our design? To answer this question, we will need to make sense of the persona, but first, I would classify them into three categories:

• First Time Visitor: James Koh and Eugene Lim both fall into this category. Whether they have been in the library or not is not the issue, they are not using the library and hence have little knowledge about it is.
• Occasional Visitor: Jessie Chai could be a person who only frequent the library occasionally. She needs re-orientation and guide to find what she is looking for.
• Frequent Visitor: Jessie Chai could be a loyal customer of the library who know the library resources inside out. She knows how to look for things, where to locate them, and borrow or book the resources.

With these understandings, the conceptual design for each user type slowly takes its shape as follows:

User Types	Conceptual Design
First Time Visitor	For library users who will head straight to the Internet cafe at the library, we will need to volunteer valuable information to lure them into exploring the library, to help them see what the library is offering, to entice them into gaining an interest and eventually trying it out;
Occasional Visitor	For library users who has some familiarity with the library system and resources because they have visited the library on and off, we will need to help them search for the resources they need, provide the direction and lead them to locate the resources quickly;
Frequent Visitor	For frequent library users, we will need to provide them added value information and services, surprise them, pose challenges or rewards to keep them coming;

Should we proceed with Task Modelling and User Journey next? Not so fast yet - not until we have finalised the conceptual designs that we want to proceed.

Why? Because as a designer, we are not designing for ourselves but always for someone else, unless you are a fine art artist. Design always involves users, have some kind of clients and other stakeholders who may have a stake in the project.

When the library spoke with us, though they have highlighted that they wanted a navigation system to direct the library users to the resources they are looking for, there is a hidden issue that may worth looking into, namely, what is the percentage of the student population actually use the library resources? Should we pursue this issue or just leave it as it is not the library's requirement?

From the conversation we had with the library, and field observation of library usage and depicted in one of the personas, the issue may be a genuine one that needs ascertain.

True or not, personally, I will do a thorough and complete project scoping to determine the conceptual design framework before answering the question. The intertwined of designing and project management is subtle and intricate. Without a clear project and design direction, our design solution will tend to sway. I will elaborate this in my next post, design management.