Abstract
When I began working with personas and read the first descriptions, I was surprised at the way the writers described other people. It was obvious that not much thought had gone into how the reader would perceive the person or what understanding the reader should get of the person. In some descriptions I had, as reader, the feeling that more effort had gone into the fact that the IT system was to be used by a person but none into who the user was as a person. At the same time, the user’s motivation for using the IT system was not very probable but something that the writer made up because there needed to be a reason. Harry is such an example:
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Notes
- 1.
The framework to create engaging personas that is described here originates from two sources: theoretical/analytic and creative/concrete sources. What can engage a reader focuses on reception of texts and on how the reader can engage in the character. How to engage a reader has it underlying basis in the creative process with creating a character and what a character description should contain in order to engage the reader.
- 2.
You can read more about characters and character creation at Horton (1999) and Nünning (2001). Horton writes that by being concrete and by knowing place and time you as the author will know the character better. Nünning describes how the rounded character views the world from different perspectives that characterises the character and influences the character’s actions.
- 3.
The mentor of Danish film scriptwriting, Mogens Rukov, describes it as 1+1+1. The first 1+1 covers two character traits in opposition and the last +1 describes a peculiarity, for example, James Bond wanting his martini shaken not stirred.
- 4.
Understanding how personas are described influences the data collected at step 1. To create an engaging persona description, you need access to data that makes it possible to create identification and engagement. Observations of workflows or segmentations of users in experienced and non-experienced users do not provide the author with the necessary information to write an engaging persona.
- 5.
Meaning is constructed in two different ways as logical-scientific or as narratives. Descriptions in lists draw upon the logical-scientific way of meaning making, which is difficult to use in narratives such as scenarios. Read more about meaning making at Bruner (1990).
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Nielsen, L. (2013). 5: Do You Know Karina?. In: Personas - User Focused Design. Human–Computer Interaction Series, vol 15. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-4084-9_6
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