Re: The difference between designers and developers

Matt,

Your points below are spot on. It's important to note that personas are
developed based on metrics and user research. Personas should not be
developed based on "best guess," or "gut feeling." They are not a
marketing tool, so much as they are a design tool. And the best way to
develop good, solid, useful, and accurate personas is through the use
of metrics and user research, as mentioned above.

You make an excellent point that without metrics and user research to
back it up, there's little hope in avoiding the conflict of "well, is
that what you think Alison would do, or is that what she actually would
do. And where are you getting your information from?"

Hope that clarifies it.

On Thursday, October 2, 2003, at 10:12 AM, Matthew Goddard wrote:

> Todd
>
> You make a good point about using personas and I recognise that they
> are one of the most important tools in our design arsenal.
>
> However, my concern about not having the metrics to backup the core
> principle of the argument must still stand. Even if I was to say
> "Alison would do this..", I would be assuming a persona without
> knowing for definite (even though I might have an feeling, or educated
> guess) that the people Alison is supposed to represents would behave
> in a certain way.
>
> Admittedly I am relatively new to having my primary focus on design,
> so I may be worrying about nothing but I'm a little nervous about
> making the assumptions as detailed above.
>
> I'm sure I can't be the only person trying to implement good design
> with being able to do the proper research to backup the claims I may
> have to make!? It is this uncertainty which characterise the
> aforementioned conversation with the developer.
>
> Regards
>
> Matt

Cheers!

Todd R. Warfel
User Experience Architect
Message First | making products easier to use
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