Persona Modelling

[AussieWebmaster]

Whether we do it subconsciously or actively create a model, it seems this marketing persona model is becoming increasingly prevalent in the approach to marketing methodology.
Demographics has always been a big tool of nonweb marketing - I am curious how many designers and marketers are using this approach actively.
Anyone care to share their experiences in this area... or their opinions of it.

[Jill Whalen]

It's something we use in all the full site analysis reports and usability studies that I do for many of my clients. Kim Krause from Usability Effects does a great job with the whole user character persona modeling. I often get a kick out of reading what persona she'll come up with next for my reports! :)

[cre8pc]

Hi Aussie,

There's several ways user personas are done nowadays, many of them spin-offs from Cooper's originial concept. To get an idea of what I mean, see (http://www.usabilityeffect.com/datapractice_persona.html), where I try to keep a variety of pubs and articles on the topic.

I use them in my usability reports, as Jill says. My reason for doing so, even the kind I do, which are based on limited information, is to instruct the web site owner/company the importance of truly understanding one's end user and the environment they're using a site in, as well as demographic info.

[AussieWebmaster]

Hi Aussie,

There's several ways user personas are done nowadays, many of them spin-offs from Cooper's originial concept. To get an idea of what I mean, see (http://www.usabilityeffect.com/datapractice_persona.html), where I try to keep a variety of pubs and articles on the topic.

I use them in my usability reports, as Jill says. My reason for doing so, even the kind I do, which are based on limited information, is to instruct the web site owner/company the importance of truly understanding one's end user and the environment they're using a site in, as well as demographic info.
Great page of titles... will work my way through the ones I have not read yet... thanks mate!

[cre8pc]

You're most welcome! Some folks collect coins and cars. I collect web site design oriented articles...heh :D

[cre8pc]

PS - Along the same lines, for anyone studying the end-user, this recent article by Jared Spool is fantastic. It's related to user personas. The overall gist is understanding who is buying, who is using, who is looking, etc. and much more, including why this is helpful info for web designers.

Putting Context Into Context (http://www.uie.com/articles/putting_context_into_context/)