1. INFO3315 Week 4 Personas, Tasks Guidelines, Heuristic Evaluation

2. Reflections on labs Sketches Contextual enquiry

3. Sketches About sketches for ideation and exploring conceptual approaches – Create many of them – Explore many different ideas – Explore variants on the same idea – Provide concrete content eg Text about number of serves of vegetables a young adult male should eat each day – not just abstract descriptions eg Content label – Add annotations explaining Why interface elements are there Distinguishing aspects in each particular sketch Pointing to aspects you are concerned about Highlighting what the key messages are

7. Week 4 lab Technical UX and Assignment 1

8. Overview Where we are in the Assignment 1 journey

9. Gaining insight into user requirements and tasks We observed users We asked users about their needs and the way they work and learn We now identify personas We create a list of tasks they need to do These are the tasks that the interface must be able to support These are the ones you need to consider in usability evaluations

10. Personas overview Design Thinking pp 264-273 http://www.usability.gov/how-to- and-tools/methods/personas.html

11. What is a persona? Rich description of an imaginary, but plausible, specific, memorable, “concrete” person – Name – Picture – Life details Base them on your Contextual Enquiry – Different groups you met Builds on our ability to think about people, when we “know” them Helps in discussions eg – Jane would not want…. but Peter would – John would not understand …

12. Choosing a primary persona 12

13. Using personas in design Copyright MKP. All rights reserved. 13

14. Class activity Why a primary persona?

15. About your assignment Homework is for each person to create a persona – put it on BB In lab, share these and work to define a single persona for Assignment 1 – Why just 1? Keep others you would like to consider for your design for Assignment 2 – Why more then?

16. Another view of tackling persona creation http://www.usability.gov/how-to- and-tools/methods/personas.html

17. “create reliable and realistic representations of your key audience segments for reference … – Represent a major user group for your website – Express and focus on the major needs and expectations of the most important user groups – Give a clear picture of the user's expectations and how they're likely to use the site – Aid in uncovering universal features and functionality – Describe real people with backgrounds, goals, and values”

18. Elements of a Persona Persona Group Fictional name Job titles and major responsibilities Demographics such as age, education, ethnicity, and family status The goals and tasks they are trying to complete using the site Their physical, social, and technological environment A quote that sums up what matters most to the persona as it relates to your site Casual pictures representing that user group

20. “Personas, like all powerful tools, can be grasped in an instant but can take months or years to master.” http://www.cooper.com/journal/2003/08/the_origin_of_personas.html Story telling …. Episodic memory Concrete Light-weight tool for group discussion – Would Lana understand this sentence?

21. Pruitt, J., & Grudin, J. (2003, June). Personas: practice and theory. In Proceedings of the 2003 conference on Designing for user experiences (pp. 1-15). ACM. http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=997089 http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=997089 Overview—Alan Waters (Business Owner) – Get to know Alan, his business and family. A Day in the Life – Follow Alan through a typical day. Work Activities – Look at Alan’s job description and role at work. Household and Leisure Activities – Get information about what Alan does when he’s not at work. Goals, Fears, and Aspirations – Understand the concerns Alan has about his life, career, and business. Computer Skills, Knowledge, and Abilities – Learn about Alan’s computer experience. Market Size and Influence – Understand the impact people like Alan have on our business. Demographic Attributes – Read key demographic information about Alan and his family. Technology Attributes – Get a sense of what Alan does with technology. Technology Attitudes – Review Alan’s perspective on technology, past and future. Communicating – Learn how Alan keeps in touch with people. International Considerations – Find out what Alan is like outside the U.S. Quotes – Hear what Alan has to say.

22. Summary of what you need to do Individual homework is to come up with one persona Consider all the above slides to decide which aspects you want to describe for your project Post your persona on BB In the lab you will share these and treat them as the pool of personas to consider Then you will select the primary persona

23. Tasks Abstract and Concrete

24. Gaining insight into user requirements and tasks We observe users We ask users about their needs and the way they work and learn We identify personas We create a list of tasks they need to do These are the tasks that the interface must be able to support These are the ones you need to consider in usability evaluations

25. Usability Tasks What does the user need to be able to do? Think of the tasks a persona needs to be able to do System Concept Formulation Task design is difficult to do well Task design is really important – For design – For evaluation – For Assignment 1, 2, …. any project with a UI

26. Designing good tasks Abstract tasks – Define the functionality eg The user can use VegOut to determine serving sizes for food Concrete tasks – The text of specific tasks that you could ask a person to do when testing your interface eg You want to know know if this cup of lettuce counts as two serves of vegetables. Use VegOut to do that. eg. Use VegOut to find the how much cucumber makes a single serve of vegetables

27. Characteristics of good concrete tasks concrete (not abstract) good coverage of the most important tasks not humorous, frivolous or offensive expressed in a manner that will make sense to the user do not lead the user

28. Class activity Consider the CUSP website Define a persona for “the info3315 student” Define 3 of the most important abstract tasks for this persona – Based on personal co-reflection… – Not as good as ethnography but fits our time budget – At least writing it down captures assumptions