PERSONAS IN THE DESIGN PROCESS: A TOOL FOR UNDERSTANDING OTHERS A Thesis Presented to The Academic Faculty By Karen Lindsay Williams In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Industrial Design Georgia Institute of Technology August, 2006 PERSONAS IN THE DESIGN PROCESS: A TOOL FOR UNDERSTANDING OTHERS Approved by: Wayne Chung, Advisor College of Architecture Georgia Institute of Technology David Ringholz College of Architecture Georgia Institute of Technology Florian Vollmer Info Retail, Inc. Date Approved: July 10, 2006 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The past three years have been full of meeting wonderful people, learning more than I could have imagined about design and many, many sleepless nights. This journey would not have been possible without the backing and energy of many individuals. Most importantly I would like to thank my parents Cathy Goodacre-Lee and Don Williams for their constant love and support over the past 25 years. I can’t imagine accomplishing any of this without the two of you behind me. I would also like to thank the rest of my family including Carole Williams, Joyce Williams, and Betty Goodacre for their encouragement throughout this graduate school adventure. This document could not have been possible without the assistance of several very patient and insightful people. Thank you to my thesis advisor, Wayne Chung, for his guidance and inspiration in the world of design research, and his thoughtful suggestions throughout this process. In addition, I would like to my express gratitude to committee member David Ringholz for his often blunt but always brilliant commentary on my work, and to committee member Florian Vollmer, a saving grace in a sea of graduation red tape. I would also like to thank Clive Roux, Scott Haynes, Karen Milchus, Jon Sanford, and Dory Sabata for their energy and support throughout this investigation. In addition, I would like to express gratitude to my Industrial Design graduate student family and give a special thanks to Clint Cope and Walter Hargrove who have been a constant source of support and providers of wealth of information over the past two years. I am also grateful to Jason Quick, since day one it has been a crazy journey together and I “might couldn’t” have gotten through it without you. iii Thank you also to Andrea Chegut, Nicole Casanova, Kelly Welborn, and Samantha Arnett for believing in me and reminding me of it often. And finally, I would like to thank all of my friends who have left me alone over the past month so that I can finish this paper. I missed you too! iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS . iii LIST OF TABLES . ix LIST OF FIGURES. x SUMMARY . xii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION . 1 CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY. 3 2.1 Review of Current Literature Methodology . 3 2.2 Design Industry Current Practices Methodology. 3 2.3 Persona Creation Methodology. 3 2.4 Persona Utilization Methodology. .4 CHAPTER 3: REVIEW OF CURRENT LITERATURE. 5 3.1 Purpose. 5 3.2 Methodology. 5 3.3 User Representation. 6 3.3.1 Persona Background. 6 3.3.2 Additional Methods for Describing Users and Customers. 7 3.3.3 Complimenting Other Research and User Representation Methods . 9 3.4 Persona Benefits. 12 3.4.1 Adding Empathetic Focus. 12 3.4.2 Enhancing Focus and Understanding. 14 3.4.3 Increasing Communication . 15 3.4.4 Preserving Privacy. 16 3.5 Persona Creation and Utilization. 17 v 3.5.1 Recommended Creation Methods. 17 3.5.2 Assumption and Ad-Hoc Personas. 24 3.5.3 Characteristics of Successful Persona Efforts. 25 3.5.4 Persona Challenges. 26 3.6 Expanding Persona Application. 30 3.6.1 Personas with Disabilities . 30 3.6.2 Additional Persona Applications . 34 3.7 Key Findings. 36 CHAPTER 4: DESIGN INDUSTRY CURRENT PRACTICES. 39 4.1 Purpose. 39 4.2 Methodology . 39 4.3 Industry Interview Results . 40 4.3.1 Enhancing Focus and Understanding. 41 4.3.2 Bridging Gaps and Increasing Communication. 44 4.3.3 Personas in Non-Design Applications. 45 4.3.4 Personas Application in Design for People with Disabilities. 46 4.3.5 Appropriateness of Persona Use. 48 4.3.6 Lack of Understanding in Persona Application. 49 4.3.7 Lack of Single Persona Methodology and Definition. 51 4.3.8 Assumption Based and Ad-Hoc Personas. 52 4.3.9 Data-Based Persona Creation Methods. 54 4.3.10 Over-Simplification of Data. 58 4.3.11 Increasing Validity of Data Driven Personas. 59 4.3.12 Preferred Methods. 61 4.4 Discussion. 63 4.5 Conclusions. 66 vi CHAPTER 5: PERSONA CREATION . 69 5.1 Purpose . 69 5.2 Methodology. 70 5.3 Results. 71 5.3.1 Team A. 71 5.3.2 Team B. 73 5.4 Discussion. 75 5.5 Conclusions . 78 CHAPTER 6: PERSONA UTILIZATION. 80 6.1 Purpose. 80 6.2 Methodology. 82 6.3 Results . 87 6.3.1 Informal Observations . 88 6.3.2 Project Deliverables . 95 6.3.3 Student Interviews . 119 6.3.4 Summary of Results from Student Interviews, Observations, and Deliverables . 129 6.3.5 Instructor Interviews. 132 6.3.6 Pre/Post Test . 136 6.4 Discussion. .146 6.5 Conclusions. .152 CHAPTER 7: DISCUSSION. 155 CHAPTER 8: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS. .163 APPENDIX A: DESIGN INDUSTRY CURRENT PRACTICE RESEARCH DOCUMENTS. .165 APPENDIX B: DESIGN INDUSTRY CURRENT PRACTICE INTERVIEW DATA. .171 vii APPENDIX C: PERSONA CREATION RESEARCH DOCUMENTS. .214 APPENDIX D: PERSONA UTILIZATION RESEARCH DOCUMENTS. 219 APPENDIX E: PERSONA UTILIZATOIN RAW DATA. 230 REFERENCES. 234 viii LIST OF TABLES Table 1 Persona characteristics as related to demographics . 77 Table 2 Participating students, their respective groups, and instructors. .. .88 Table 3 Instructor C student group persona use as defined by key variables. 130 Table 4 Instructor D student group persona use as defined by key variables. 131 Table 5.