Personas

Behavioral personas

Personas, as used in UX, are useful for testing and heuristics where empathizing with the motivations of a particular user or segment could yield insights about the IA and UI of a site or app. The following personas are applicable to a wide range of applications.

Barry Browser

Barry is a 65-year-old from a rural area. He's curious, deliberate, and prefers things kind of slow. His primary behavior on websites is skimming and browsing. He's likely to peruse 5 or more pages on the site before bouncing, read some passages in depth, and eschew the search functionality in preference to the navigation and other information scents.

Stephanie Searcher

Stephanie is 24, a Sagittarius, lives in a suburb, and works in the city. She grew up with the internet, and is not inclined to waste time. She got to the site from a search engine, will use site search to narrow and refine results, and will even Ctrl+F on pages to find what she's looking for. She's more likely to bounce quickly, but may return to a different page via organic.

Steve Krug

Legendary usability author of Don't make me think! Steve Krug is a 70-year-old in the suburbs. He has high proficiency with tech, combines information-seeking techniques, and judges sites harshly for problems with IA and content.

Felicia Frugal

Felicia is 33 years old. She was absolutely clobbered in her career by the Great Recession. She lives in a suburb in an overpriced rental, has remaining student debt, and has come to terms with her situation not getting much better any time soon. Still, she remains optimistic that technology and societal progress will improve her lot in life by the time she'd want to retire.

Dominique Disability

Dominique is 49 and living in an assisted living facility just outside of the city. She is not defined by her numerous sensory, cognitive, and motor difficulties, but certainly has to grapple with them every day. Dominique wants to get through the computer work so she can get back to her non-computer crafts and hobbies.