Probably every developer in the .net community has seen the sound clips to Steve Balmer chanting "Developers, Developers, Developers, Developers". I even saw a few videos of songs created on the whole event. In the world of your application and User-Centered-Design, every person on your project should be chanting "Users, Users, Users, Users" with the same passion and vigor as Steve Balmer.
It comes to no surprise that my first tip for bringing better user experiences in your applications would be to look at the one person that matters, your users. Creative Directors do this by creating what is known as Personas. According to Wikipedia, the real dictionary of the world, "Persona's are fictitious characters that are created to represent the different user types within a targeted demographic that might use a site or product".
If you really want to improve your applications you really need to take the time to create a few persona's and i am going to help you in that task by providing a small, simple activity to follow.
1. Create 3-4 Persona's based on your users.
- 2 Persona's that represent 80% of your user base.
- 1 Persona that represents the "influence" role... aka managers/decision makers
- and finally create 1 persona that is administrator/upkeep role
Example of a Persona from http://www.steptwo.com/
Bob is 52 years old and works as a mechanic with an organization offering road service to customers when their car breaks down. He has worked in the job for the past 12 years and knows it well. Many of the younger mechanics ask Bob for advice when they meet up in the depot as he always knows the answer to tricky mechanical problems. Bob likes sharing his knowledge with the younger guys, as it makes him feel a valued part of the team.
Bob works rolling day and night shifts and spends his shifts attending breakdowns and lockouts (when customers lock their keys in the car). About 20% of the jobs he attends are complex and he occasionally needs to refer to his standard issue manuals. Bob tries to avoid using the manuals in front of customers as he thinks it gives the impression he doesn’t know what he’s doing.
Bob has seen many changes over the years with the company and has tried his best to move with the times. However he found it a bit daunting when a new computer was installed in his van several years ago, and now he has heard rumors that the computer is going to be upgraded to one with a bigger screen that’s meant to be faster and better.
Bob’s been told that he will be able to access the intranet on the new computer. He has heard about the intranet and saw once in an early version on his manager’s computer. He wonders if he will be able to find out want’s going on in the company more easily, especially as customers’ seem to know more about the latest company news than he does when he turns up at a job. This can be embarrassing and has been a source of frustration for Bob throughout his time with the company.
Bob wonders if he will be able to cope with the new computer system. He doesn’t mind asking his grandchildren for help when he wants to send an email to his brother overseas, but asking the guys at work for help is another story.
Now, of course this could be very basic exercises, some applications that are corporate enterprise based may be more complex, but I encourage you to stay focused. The more persona's you create the more muddy your application becomes. The more complicated, the more I would encourage you to bring in an interaction designer.
2. Now go through your application in the mind set of each of these persona's. Try to think in their frame of mind, and jot down changes each persona would really benefit from to make their jobs easier and facilitate the requirements better. Its very important to do each persona separate from the other. Stick with 1 persona each day or half day. Don't cross pollinate, you want to avoid personal confliction and persona confliction at this stage.
3. Finally after its all said and done, take each notes and review the notes and weight the positives and negatives of each change/request to a positive or negative number to each persona. Would a particular change benefit this persona some, none, or not effect it. I go with a simple calculation of +1, -1, or 0 for not effected by change.
Thats it, thats the basics to persona capturing. Of course there can be more to it, but I guarantee that if your looking for ways to improve your UX of your existing applications, this exercise can really make a difference. Its important to really think outside your developer "frame of mind". But overall this is a very simple, very basic, and very effective way to overall improving the UX of your application. If anything, its a start in the right direction.
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