[Irl-dean] A wee conundrum

[Laurence Veale]

I gave an introductory talk on personas a couple of months ago:
http://www.iqcontent.com/blog/2007/01/introduction-to-personas-presentation-notes-from-barcamp

Here's a "case study" that we sometimes use to explain personas:

The wheelie case was designed to be light, small enough to be stored
in overhead lockers, narrow enough to be carried through the aisle and
had wheels to be easily towed through long airport corridors.

However, they were not designed for the general public (who are never
a design target you can hit). Instead, they were they designed for a
specific audience, the cabin crew.

The design worked so well for one design group that it worked so well
for everyone else.

Resources I recommend on personas:

Articles on personas by my colleague, John Wood:
Why primary personas are not your average user:
http://www.iqcontent.com/blog/2006/10/why-primary-personas-are-not-your-average-user

How personas and scenarios can change your website for the better (parts 1&2)
http://www.iqcontent.com/publications/features/article_75/
http://www.iqcontent.com/publications/features/article_77/

My colleague, John Wood on usability on the persuaders podcast:
http://www.thepersuaders.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=125741


About Face 2.0: The Essentials of Interaction Design (Paperback)  by Alan Cooper

The User Is Always Right: A Practical Guide to Creating and Using
Personas for the Web by Steve Mulder


On 4/25/07, Paul Walsh, Segala <paul at segala.com> wrote:
> Mark,
>
> Where exactly did you come across this - it's the first I've heard of it and
> I'm Chair of the British Interactive Media Association. That of course is
> not to say it's not a common belief in Ireland or the UK.
>
> Cheers
> Paul
>
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> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: irl-dean-admin at list.eeng.dcu.ie
> [mailto:irl-dean-admin at list.eeng.dcu.ie] On
> > Behalf Of Mark Magennis
> > Sent: 25 April 2007 16:26
> > To: Irl-DeAN
> > Subject: [Irl-dean] A wee conundrum
> >
> > I was just doing a bit of reading about interaction design and I
> > repeatedly came across the following statement about the value of
> > using personas:
> >
> > "defining and designing for a set of specific personas helps to avoid
> > the common practice of trying to design for all users".
> >
> > So is there a fundamental conflict between Design for All and good
> > interaction design practice? Or is Design for All not the same thing
> > as designing for all users?
> >
> > Discuss.
> >
> > Mark
> >
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-- 
Laurence Veale
Senior Analyst
iQ Content Ltd

Usability | Accessibility | Training | Search

iQ Content is a Google Enterprise Partner

Blog: www.iqcontent.com/blog
Tel: (office) +353 1 817 0768
Tel: (mobile) +353 87 900 2999
Skype: laurenceveale
Fax: +353 1 817 0769
Email: laurence.veale at iqcontent.com