Personas Versus Participatory Design In Software Development

1
Personas Versus Participatory Design In
Software Development

• University of South Carolina Summer Research
  Program

Lalique Gumbs-Prince
Advisor Dr. John Bowles
National Science Foundation Grant 0353627
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Objective

• To explore and compare the benefits and flaws of
  the Participatory Design and Personas techniques.
• Report the experience with personas in a
  collaborative setting. Lady Buggin Design Team

3
Introduction

• Developing new software applications and products
  for consumers can be challenging for software
  development teams
• The creation and use of personas, is a fairly new
  interaction design technique, is become
  increasingly popular among software development
  teams

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The Concept and Characteristics of Personas

• Personas are fictional archetypes of users
  created by designers and engineers
• Characteristics of personas include
• Names and ages
• Likes, hobbies, and pet peeves
• Ethnicity
• Families and socioeconomic status
• Goals and educational achievement

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Uses of Personas

• Enhancing reality
• Building scenarios and data collection
• Guiding decisions with
• Product features
• Visual design
• Navigation and interaction

6
The Participatory Design Approach in Software
Development

• Involves qualified users throughout the design
  process
• Hypothesizes that good ideas come from the bottom
  up as well as from the top down
• Involves prototyping and low fidelity mock ups

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Uses of the Participatory Design Approach

• Giving workers better tools
• Helping qualified users to determine how to
  improve their skills or work life
• Addressing information technology within the
  context of the workplace

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L.B.D.T Experience with Personas

• Developing a mobile application using J2ME
• Creating three personas 2 females and l male
• 2 secondary personas
• 1 primary persona
• Choosing the correct primary persona
• Once primary persona is pleased with the product,
  all potential users should be satisfied

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Primary Persona Eve

• 19 year-old Female from Austin, Texas
• English Major
• Reading, hanging with boyfriend, involved in
  campus clubs and activities.
• Very punctual, outgoing, social, impatient, and
  motivated
• Computer literacy and proficiency Medium
• Research, typing papers, news, and music for her
  IPOD
• Cell phone use High
• Plays games for relaxation and calendar

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Secondary Persona Bill

• 48 year-old male from New York
• Construction worker
• Recovering alcoholic
• 2 kids from previous marriage and now remarried
• Fishing, camping, bowling, watches TV (Sports and
  Westerns)
• Computer literacy and proficiency Low
• Does not own a computer
• Cell phone use Medium
• For emergencies, to call his wife, business use,
  and takeout food

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Secondary Persona Carey

• 12 year-old from Beverly Hills, California
• Favorite Subject Art
• Private School Student in the 6th grade
• Shops with her mother, plays tennis, does
  paintings and draws
• Father Movie Producer
• Mother Clothing Designer
• Computer literacy and proficiency High
• Research, Designing (Art Related), Shopping,
  Chatting.
• Cell phone use High
• Has the latest technology with phone
• Games, organizer, and talking to her friends and
  family

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Benefits of Creating Personas in the Software
Development Process

• Focuses on a specific target audience
• Creates a strong focus on users and work contexts
  through the fictional setting
• Enhances memory, attention, and organization of
  detailed user data through the power of narrative

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Potential Flaws of Creating and Using Personas

• Reuse
• Inaccuracy
• Creating the wrong persona
• Sets the development process back

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Benefits of the Participatory Design Approach

• Benefits for the designers
• Users more likely to accept the system
• Designers know the needs of the user firsthand
• Benefits for the participants (users)
• Improves working skill
• Influence changes technology
• Both have a shared knowledge and understanding of
  this process

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Potential Flaws of the Participatory Design
Approach

• Confidentiality
• User limitations
• Time

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Conclusion

• As research shows, the participatory design seems
  to lengthen the process of software development
• As stated by Cooper, the personas technique may
  take time to master", but are quick to develop.
• Disagreements over design decisions can be sorted
  out by referring back to the agreed-upon personas

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Acknowledgements

• Cooper, Alan. (1999). The inmates are running the
  asylum. Macmillan
• Calabria, Tina. (2004). The introduction to
  personas and how to create them.
• Ehn, P. (1993). Scandinavian design On
  participation and skill. Erlbaum
• Team members include
• Rob Jansen
• LaShea Johnson
• Carlos Rivera