Designing Personas Javeria Masood. M.A. DGMT. 2012
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Table of contents
Introduction Project Rubix Project [xyz]* Project Lemonade for a High Five Refrences
* The name is kept anonymous and content redacted.
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Introduction
This is a compilation of a very significant part of 3 of the projects that I worked on in design school. Target market, user group, audience, breach group, personas...is one of the most important components of the research and design process. Personas are tools that are used in research to understand the market segments at a more approachable level. In design these are developed as means to approach the market. This doccument showcases personas for 3 projects, each vary according to the premise and parameters of the service, product or business design.
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Rubix
Service
A custom-built platform for bringing healthy, farm-fresh food into the fast food market, at its core, Rubix is about meeting users where they are and encouraging healthy eating by building a dynamic relationship between user and producer, user and food, and user and farm. In a nutshell, Rubix is a fresh food delivery system that evokes images of a made-to-order grill and salad bar with the convenience of farm to office, farm to school, or farm to event roadside service. It offers ready-to-go recipe and grocery packs, custom-prepared meals, simple self-prep snacks, and season-specific seeds for planting Rubix foods at home. In creating Rubix, the key drivers of fast food purchasing behavior and consumer health were uncovered. This approach led the team to develop a food service platform that sparks consumers’ curiosity and starts a conversation. 7
A young girl - Developing food
preferences for the first time, open to trying new things that look fun and colorful.
A sporty teenage boy - Looking
for quick, tasty and convenient food option at a cool hangout place.
The businessman - Off for an
important business meeting in the morning and wants to grab a quick healthy bite.
The elder person - At an elderly age and limited mobility nutritious food options are a priority.
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[xyz]
Product
The project is the potential undertaking, which researches the target market for [xyz] in order to introduce and disseminate it by devising a marketing strategy. The strategy integrates the aspects of learning, applications and diffusion. [xyz] aim to pioneer a unique standard of typing that would ensure proficiency in the highly explored virtual market. It brings a simple and logical matrix that is easy to learn, configure and apply.
* The name is kept anonymous and content redacted.
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Precocious 10 Year Old
Early Adopter: Learning and Communication. Home Schooled Girl. 10 years old.
Academically, she is leaps and bounds ahead of kids her age and is highly aware of what her friends are doing. When exploring issues, she places as much value on her friends thoughts as her own. While not in school with other children, she is conscious of what other kids are wearing and doing. For instance, when the family goes out, she takes note of what other kids are wearing. She also admires her ten to fourteen year old peer group. When at home, her parents limit her Internet access to one hour per day. Despite her pleads for a cell phone, her parents insist that it is way to early. They cannot imagine what she would do with a cell phone and deem it as a distraction. Even though she is not permitted to have her own cell phone, she is able to stay current by playing on her Dad’s iPhone. Her dad derives peace of mind by allowing her to borrow his phone to play games because it distracts her from her chattiness. At an early age, she relieves boredom by playing games on the computer. At age 10, she learned how to type. She enjoys using the computer as a past-time. However, she is not interested in how the computer actually works.
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Retired Auto-worker
Possible Early Adopter - General Communication. Skilled laborer. Married. 60 years old.
He is the American stereotype of the retired lifelong autoworker. He worked for GM, installing electrics on the manufacturing line in Dayton, Ohio. He has been married over 40 years and has had six kids, all of whom have gone to college and created successful professional lives for themselves. This was not without help from Dad, though, as he refinanced the family homestead at age 45 to pay for his children’s education. For retirement, the kids got him his first computer- a massive iMac. He finds this both exciting and intimidating. His kids worried that they were going to get calls every evening as to how to work the machine, but to their surprise, he has been teaching himself and learning at a pace only someone in retirement has the time for. His wife jokes about an unforeseen and pleasant outcome of this new computer; it has brought peace to the house, he no longer is constantly bothering her.
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The Perfect Suburban Mother
Possible Early Adopter for Learning & Games Single mother of 2 boys, ages 6 & 10. Early 40’s.
She analyzes everything before she buys it because she knows the implications of not doing so (avoiding difficulties, making good things better). She aspires to the “Perfect Suburban” caricature of American life reflected in network television.She buys and finds comfort in designer bags, shoes, and clothes. If she could have her wishes granted, she would have a lawyer husband, a large house with picket fence, and perfect children. She almost always has her children with her unless they are in school. She talks to her sister at night about her worries regarding her children’s education. The children switched from private school to public school 2 years ago. They are exceeding their grade level expectations according to standardized tests, but teachers have not promoted them to a higher grade. She realizes that she is going to have to find ways to supplement their education She insists that they read books regularly, making sure that they even take their books on short car trips (i.e. Walmart, Target, basketball practice, the mall, etc.). When they whine about reading in the car, she plays movies in the SUV and allows them to play Nintendo DS and games on her cellphone.
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The Whenever Musician
Early adopter - Learning and communication. Young Adult, 19 years old
He recently graduated from what he considered the “imprisonment of high school.� While he was never part of the crowd that could be caricatured as alternative, rebellious, and trouble-making in high school society, he has had ups and downs that have created difficulties. When this happens he finds comfort and release in playing his violin, a stereotypically opposite instrument to how he sees himself. He started playing at age 9. He remembers the lessons his family was so adamant about and that first success of learning to pluck the strings to play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. He laughs at the mental image of this, of how he held the violin, as its too similar to how its like to play Guitar Hero now; a clash and mashing of archetypes. While he does not take lessons or regularly play anymore, he knows he will always hold on to the instrument, he enjoys it, he can lose himself in it, and that is important. Sometimes he likes playing because of its technical challenge. Achieving the complex fingering associated with mastering a difficult improvisational passage feels particularly good. Its not just the accomplishment, its the rhythm and syncopation in how his fingers have to move that is still mesmerizing, like listening to jazz or typing.
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The Conscientious Parent
Possible Early Adopter for Learning & Games. Mother of 2 girls. Works 2 jobs. Early 30’s.
Her parents and three siblings all live within a half hour from her and she spends as much time as possible ensuring that the family stays together. While she does have a heavily intertwined network of family and friends, she has expertly managed to maintain a social life. She keeps a decorative address book, the style of which personifies her taste in pretty things like fashion, flowers, and makeup. She encourages her children to pursue their dreams and continually tries to shelter them from mature topics such as violence, drugs, and sex. She owns a house in a cul-de-sac where the neighborhood children play. She encourages her kids to play outside when she needs some downtime. She doesn’t spend money on unnecessary items.
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Blossoming Young Professional
Possible Early Majority Adopter - Gaming and/or General Communication College educated. Single female. Early-mid 20’s.
She has a professional degree, but found herself working in a warehouse. She has been anxious about life, especially about money and her future. After consulting with God, she returns to school to reinvent herself and finds her passion. Before pursuing her graduate degree, she never felt validated in her professional interests. But after returning to school, she found that she truly excelled in her course work. She attended her first career fair expecting nothing, but left with high praise from interested companies and received multiple offers even though she had months to go before completing her program. She doesn’t have a car; she rides her bike almost everywhere. She has 1 laptop and recently purchased a smart phone because things are taking off for her and she needs to be connected.
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Lemonade for a High Five
Business Model
Premise of the project:
Lemonade for a high five is a non-profit organization working for the betterment of the community by capitalizing on the community’s assets, inspirations and potential. The project is the potential undertaking, which explores and encourages to bridge the (still) existing disconnect between thinkers and do-ers, through the happy phenomenon of co-creation.
Value Proposition:
For the design enthusiast who is always on a lookout for creative avenues and wants to work in cross-disciplinary teams. This curriculum is a combination of workshop-style courses that offer a unique opportunity to materialize ideas. We do this by equipping you with a set of skills to test your creative aspirations. Unlike the plethora of already existing programs and methods where hands-on practice comes much later in the process, our offering encourages you to prototype early on in the process to make sure that your innovative ideas see the light of the day. 25
The Designer
The Policy Maker
The Educator
The Community Member
Interests
The Social Innovater
Loves talking to people, hearing their stories, trying new cultures, places, food.
Very resourceful and always willing to try and apply innovative ideas to help people.
Looks at problems as potentials. Applies a combination of lateral and analytical thinking.
Wants to make the city life better and convenient by taking the policy making exercise from desk to context.
Enjoys sharing knowledge and skills. Great at connecting dots and contexts.
Loved by all his peers. Gets frustrated to see his community in a fix.
Endeavour
The Ethnographer
Working with a startup that is ready to launch a house security mechanism for older community.
Have worked in a certain community for a while, looking for a small opening to intervene.
Working with a multidiscipline team to find solution for the eating disorder in teenagers.
Tagged teams on an urban design project coinciding with public transportation, Mac wants to take the policy making exercise from desk to context. Want to be able to see how the policy decision would be accepted or responded to with a certain urban setting.
Exploring new way to communicate theoretical understanding of human behavior. An actual setting with people from diverse skills and society standing seems like a perfect opportunity.
Is aching to take initiative to promote hygienic concerns and wants to develop the habit of washing
What How Why
Scenarios and system maps are also a key component in the process... who it is for and how, when and where it will be used. 27
Refrences
Books: Dunham, Robert. Denning, Peter J. The Innovator’s Way: Essential Practices for Successful Innovation. The MIT Press. 2010. Pigneur, Yves. Osterwalder, Alexander. Business Model Generation: A Handbook for Visionaries, Game Changers, and Challengers. Wiley. 1 ed. 2010. Goodwin, Kim. Designing for the Digital Age: How to Create Human-Centered Products and Services. Wiley. 1 ed. 2009. Collins, Jim. Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don’t. HarperBusiness. 1 ed. 2001. Martin, Roger L. The Design of Business: Why Design Thinking is the Next Competitive Advantage. Harvard Business School Press. 2009. Articles: Dynamic Archetypes and Lifestyle Changes. A new approach to design research and health: when Personas aren’t enough. By Celine Pering. designmind.frogdesign.com
Javeria Masood. M.A. DGMT. 2012