Turn your themes and insight statements into user personas by filling in each section in the template.
This step will take you 2-3 hours if you are creating two persona.
π§ββοΈ Tip: Do this step within 24 hours of creating insight statements.
That way the insights will still be fresh.
π§ββοΈ Tip: Use the annotated example of a persona to help you.
Have it available to look at as you build your personas.
The whiteboard you used in Guide 3.
The deck you added your user need statements to in 4.1.
You can do this on your own or with anyone you created insight statements with.
π¬ Read the introduction to personas again
π¬ Look at the full set of two contrasting personas to imagine what yours might look like at the end.
Look at the patterns that have emerged from your research. See if there are strong contrasting needs and user types in your user group.
Create one persona if everyone has broadly similar needs and behaviours. It's ok if some of those needs contrast with each other.
Create a second, contrasting, persona if your research shows big differences in needs and behaviours within your user group. Decide which persona will be the primary persona, reflecting the most common needs and behaviours.
Create up to three personas if you need to. More than three personas can be unhelpful as they will blur together.
Give each persona a tagline or label. Add these to your deck.
Donβt worry if you feel like you are missing some of your users or their needs.
Add basic details that help us imagine them as a person and understand their situation in life.
This could include name, role and past experiences. Be specific. Keep it simple.
Do this now because it makes the persona more real. This will help you create it.
Use natural photos of real people in everyday life if you can. Use head and shoulder photos.
Find free to use photos using Flickrβs creative commons search parameters. Scroll photos or use the search function. GDSteamβs Flickr can be useful.
Crop the photo then add it to your slides.
Look at the quotes on your whiteboard. Look at the words people use to describe themselves and what they do in life. Combine what they say into one descriptive quote that shows how they see themselves.
Look at your themes, sub-themes, insight statements and user need statements. Search them for your usersβ goals.
Write down three high level goals that summarise what your persona is trying to achieve in their work.
Look at your themes, sub-themes and insight statements. Search them for behaviours, fears, motivations, quirks, frustrations and habits.
Write down 5-7 behaviours. Try to start each one with a verb or adjective. Write simply. Try to use only 1-2 sentences per behaviour.
Look at your user need statements. Search for what your users want to be doing, feeling or knowing.
Write down 5-7 primary wants and needs. Start each sentence with βWantsβ or Needsβ. Include why they want or need what they do.
Look at your direct quote post-its in your sub-themes. Look for those that illustrate a goal, behaviour, want or need.
Pick the most vivid and specific ones. Copy these. Edit each one for brevity and readability. Quotes should be snappy and memorable.
This is an optional step. Your persona will be good enough even if you donβt do this.
Show your personas to people working with the same user group. They could be in your organisation or others.
Ask them what they recognise in your persona. Ask them if they know other user types, or how they might iterate the persona or create another to sit alongside it.
Decide if you want to iterate your persona, create another or do nothing for now.
Like with user need statements, creating personas is not a science. Your personas should be rooted in the evidence but it's up to you how you use that evidence.
Your personas donβt need to represent every variation or type of user in your user group. They canβt do that. But they can represent some. Thatβs enough to design with.
Turn your insight statements into user need statements.
This step will take you around 2 hours.
π§ββοΈ Tip: Do this step within 24 hours of creating insight statements.
That way the insights will still be fresh.
π§ββοΈ Tip: Use the annotated examples of three user need statements to help you.
Have it available to look at as you write your statements.
The whiteboard you used in Guide 3.
A note taking tool like Google Docs or MS Word.
A presentation tool like Google Sheets or MS Powerpoint.
You can do this on your own or with anyone you created insight statements with.
π¬ Read the introduction to user need statements again.
ππ Watch User need statements in Design Thinking.
Use your note taking tool or this template to jot your statements down.
Read the first insight statement. Ask yourself βwhat need does this revealβ?
Write each user need in the 3-part statement format:
As aβ¦ [user type e.g. βperson seeking mental health supportβ]
I need/want/expect to⦠[need]
So that⦠[goal or insight into why it's important to that person]
Good
As a person experiencing mental distress I need information on my support options to be easy to read and feel supportive, so that I don't get frustrated, overwhelmed or have to struggle to understand my support options. (Good because the need clearly belongs to the user and statement articulates their hopes and fears.)
As an educator I need to access high quality LGBT+ curriculum resources so that I feel confident I am teaching my pupils well. (Good because it articulates the user's need and their motivations in a way that is easy to understand.)
Bad
As a young person looking for help and support with my mental health I need an online, hosted chat room to help me feel better. (Bad because the need is phrased as a solution. Perhaps what they need is to be able to connect with other young people in a similar situation so they feel less alone.)
As a provider of LGBT+ support services I need our services to be delivered at a time and place that suits our users so that they don't have a bad experience of our service. (Bad because it confuses who has the need and the insight lacks empathy for the user.)
Keep asking yourself:
What does the user care about?
Why is this important to the user?
What emotion is driving the userβs behaviour?
What does the user stand to gain?
Review your statements. Be willing to iterate it and alter the language. Check that you are:
Thinking about usersβ needs as verbs, not nouns
Talking about needs and not ways to meet those needs
Capturing nuances, and being specific where you can
Look at your statements. See if there are 2-3 high level themes that they fit into. Write down those themes.
You can do this after step 5 if you prefer.
π¬ Copy the template deck if you haven't already.
Add your statements to your deck, one per slide.
Give each statement a short title. This makes them memorable.
Add a theme to the title if you havenβt yet done so. Check your themes if you have.
Organise your statements by theme and from general to specific, or in any order that makes sense to you.
Number your statements. This makes them easier to find and remember.
This is an optional step. Your user need statements will be good enough even if you donβt do this.
Acceptance criteria are a list of outcomes that you use as a checklist to confirm that your service has done its job and is meeting that user need.
Theyβre often written as a list that begins with βitβs done when the userβ¦β
This is an optional step. Your user need statements should be good enough even if you donβt do this.
Show your statements to a user, one at a time. Ask them how each statement feels. Not every user will agree with each statement. That's ok.
Afterwards show them all the statements together and ask them to rank them for importance.
Record what they say and do.
Repeat this with 3-4 more users.
Edit, remove, re-sort your user need statements based on what you learnt.
Create user need statements. Create personas.
This guide is part of The Catalyst PUNS Guide. It follows on from Guide 3: How to find themes and insights from user interviews.
For this guide to be useful you need to have already:
Carried out some user interviews
Synthesised the interview data
Clustered themes and insights together
You can do this by using Guide 3: How to find themes and insights from user interviews, or by other means you choose. Guide 3 includes links to some.
Click 'File' to make a copy.
Use advice and guidance from the steps overleaf and the links you find. π