Use Case / User Profiling / Use Scenarios
In order to complete my allotted part of the project, I needed to research what makes a good user profile, and why developers make them.
If the user is the centre of the design process, it is more likely that the application will be user-friendly, realistic, easy to use, and make sense.
The user profiles I constructed are representations of three target segments. There is no "one" perfect user. Therefore those that I constructed had to represent different elements of our imaginary perfect user.
"The more believable the story, the better representation the persona is of users; the more accurate the representation, the more likely our decisions will reflect the user’s needs."
The user profiles that I wrote were reasonably easy to construct once I had the central persona. I tried to identify the main pain points and motivations of each user, shown through their lifestyle, profession, interests and background.
1. Louis Badis - The Wanderer - Louis was meant to be the youngest persona - and the one who was the most prone to just wandering around London without any particular purpose. He likes to explore, but he wanders because he knows the city well and likes ending up in new places.
2. Viv Redman - The London Old-hand - Viv was inspired by someone who loves London's history and loves a particular author - and that is their motivation point. They want to find things related to that author, and their favourite book. Viv is a teacher, so that's where her innate love of literature comes from. All the personas have this, but they also need to have more than just that to be someone who will use Wanderlost.
3. Jessica Brompton - The Tourist- we needed one of them to be a proper tourist. This tourist however needs to have a deeper desire to explore than a tourist in London for the first time. They have to want to escape the generic tourist track. They have to want to explore further. They have to be familiar with London enough to do this - so that's why I chose her to have family in the UK and to have been coming here for a long time.
4. Matthew Rhodes - The Young Professional - This persona Lottie created. He is meant to be new to London, with inclination and time to wander around when he can. He uses the app when on the way to somewhere else.
- Costa, J (2011) Personas, Putting the Focus back on the User. http://www.uxbooth.com/articles/personas-putting-the-focus-back-on-the-user/
