http://blog.purevisibility.com/2008/12/good-personas-punch-you-in-the-gut/ Mon, 26 Jul 2010 00:04:17 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 http://blog.purevisibility.com/2008/12/good-personas-punch-you-in-the-gut/comment-page-1/#comment-1403 Mike Beasley Mon, 15 Dec 2008 14:55:15 +0000 http://blog.purevisibility.com/?p=369#comment-1403 I've been thinking a lot lately about what I see as a tendency to fetishize personas - "If we have make a persona it'll ward away bad design!" The concept gets simplified as authors attempt to explain personas to a wider audience. In Website Optimization, the book that Pure Visibility contributed to, personas are described in less than a page. I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what I see as a tendency to fetishize personas – “If we have make a persona it’ll ward away bad design!” The concept gets simplified as authors attempt to explain personas to a wider audience. In Website Optimization, the book that Pure Visibility contributed to, personas are described in less than a page.

]]> http://blog.purevisibility.com/2008/12/good-personas-punch-you-in-the-gut/comment-page-1/#comment-1401 Susan Weinschenk Sun, 14 Dec 2008 11:09:58 +0000 http://blog.purevisibility.com/?p=369#comment-1401 It's an interesting point you make about the relationship between personas and stories. There is some research about stories that show that our brains react to stories, and that we tend to process information in narrative chunks (chapter 10 in my book Neuro Web Design: What makes them click -- www.neurowebbook.com). That would explain why personas used in UCD can make the user experience "real" to a design and development team. The term persona does tend to be used loosely, and it would be good to get specific about what elements are needed for a persona to really be a persona. It’s an interesting point you make about the relationship between personas and stories. There is some research about stories that show that our brains react to stories, and that we tend to process information in narrative chunks (chapter 10 in my book Neuro Web Design: What makes them click — http://www.neurowebbook.com). That would explain why personas used in UCD can make the user experience “real” to a design and development team. The term persona does tend to be used loosely, and it would be good to get specific about what elements are needed for a persona to really be a persona.

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