COB User Personas

July , 2009

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 Personas

You are not your user!

Using personas to guide
your web design

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 For whom you are building?

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 Why Personas
• A persona is a fictional person who represents a major user group for your site.

• Benefits:
– Users' goals and needs become a common point of focus for the team.
– User centred design can be produced.
– Design efforts can be prioritized based on the personas.
– Disagreements over design decisions can be sorted out by referring back to the
personas.
– Designs can be constantly evaluated against the personas, getting better designs
into usability testing.

• Companies like Ford Motor Company, Microsoft, and Staples develop and use
personas and they report many benefits from doing so, including:
– a better understanding of customers
– shorter design cycles
– improved product quality

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 List of user personas
High Priority

 Student
 Professor

Medium Priority

 Alumni
 Parent

Low Priority

 Business owner

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 HIGH PRIORITY PERSONAS

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 Student: keep me informed!
High priority
Age: 22 years
Occupation: Student
Goals
• Find the course electives for each new sessions.
• Track the team sports performance in the tournaments
• Stay up to date with the happenings in the university
• Make a carrier as a scientist
User Tasks
• Search for available books in the book store
• Enrol for a athletics & other department activities
• Actively participate in the online communities
• Registration for courses in the academic years
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General Description
Shawn is the second year student of Science stream. She
came from Italy to pursue higher studies in COB. She is 22
years of age.
Shawn love’s athletics & she is the captain of the women’s
athletics team. She has participated in NCCA play &
reached the finals.
Features/Needs
• Discussion forum to post questions & get their answers
via online communities
• Up to date information on the recent happenings.
• Easy usage of book store and track learning needs
• Access to all departments with easy navigation &
information upfront.
Scenarios
1. Enters the url in the browser. Logs in with her
personal ID.
2. Checks the latest updates & news, comes across
a new personality development course offered by
campus life department
3. She enrols herself in the program by clicking on the
enrol button with ease.
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 Student personas

Christy Gonzola Ashley Myles Shaina Wiseman Andy Wright

(Undergraduate Student (Undergraduate (Graduate Student - (Graduate Student -
- Molecular & Cell Student - Acheology) Land Development) Information Studies)
Biology)

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 Professor: connected with the students !
High priority
Age: 40 years
Occupation: Professor of physics
Goals
• To be respected by the students, other faculty & the
dean of the college.
• Create new course materials online
• Publish the notes & presentation online to help the
students
User Tasks
• Provide counselling sessions to new students
• Active participation in the research department
• Uploads the new courses & material for the students
• Conduct regular science quiz competitions for the
students
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General Description
Jack is the faculty for physics, he teaches fresher's & the
second year students at COB. He used to teach in university
of CUBA before joining COB. He is married with 1 kid. He is
fairly comfortable with computers.
He supports the usage of technology to make the lecture’s
more illustrative & interesting. He uses videos to
demonstrate some key points to his students.
Features/Needs
• Create his profile on the web site & participate in
discussion forums.
• Get the latest updates & policy news in the university
• Post his blog on the college site to express his views
Scenarios
1. Logins the application with his credentials.
2. Enters the new course details for the coming
academic years & the suggested books and
reference materials.
3. Uploads the study materials
4. Goes to the discussion forum section & answers
the physics queries raised by students.
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 Professor/faculty personas

George
McFadden
(Online Instructor
Ahmad Yousef - Journalism)
(Faculty - Tenure-
track History)
George McFadden Henry Sibley
Catalina De Silva
(Faculty - GSI Manager (Online Instructor - (Longtime Faculty -
Journalism) Chemistry)
in Spanish)

Sergio Rossi
(Graduate Teaching Robin McCoy Stacey Pearson
Assistant - Urban (Faculty - Business School) (Graduate Teaching
Affairs & Planning) Assistant - Biochemistry)

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 MEDIUM PRIORITY PERSONAS

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 Alumni: I am connected to COB
High priority
Age: 35 years
Occupation: Engineer at GE
General Description
Marco is working as a engineer in GE Atlanta. He is a
graduate student of COB of 2003 batch. He is single, lives
with his parents in Atlanta. He is a tech savvy guy, who loves
to use black berry to communicate.

He is an active donor to COB trust, he even helps in

placement of students in his organization.

Goals Features/Needs
• Create his profile & search other classmates
• Take the career to the next level
• Download the COB magazine
• Contribute to the development of COB
• Registration of alumni events
• Help the passing out students secure new jobs in the
• Donate with earmarks & tracking
corporate world.
• Post new recruitment opportunities
• Search old professors & contact them

User Tasks Scenarios

• Register for alumni events 1. Login the web application
• Donate to COB 2. Go to the recruitment section
• Post new job opportunities 3. Upload the details about a new job opportunities

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 Alumni personas

James Gordon Samara Jennifer Mark K Jerry Mohan

(Software engineer) (Writer) (Biotech Engineer) (Social worker)

Sarah Kim Nancy timoy Danny jude

(Student counselor) (Primary teacher) (Site manger)

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 Parents: where is my child studying?
High priority General Description
Age: Monica 45 years & Monica & Kris are a small business owner in the locality.
Kris 51 years Their two daughters are studying in COB. They are average
Occupation: Business owner computer users, they have internet connections at home.

Most of the time they spend in vacations as the business is

doing well. They want their daughters to get the best
education & help hand in managing the business.

Goals Features/Needs
• Information about the COB
• Provide a good education to their daughters.
• Online donations to the college trusts
• Spend quality time with their children
• Registration for active participation in some social causes

User Tasks Scenarios

• Find information about COB 1. Opens the COB website
2. Surfs the website & learn more about COB.

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 Parent personas

Mark Krsit & Jeena Robin herald & Koyna Jachob & Maira
(Parent of Michael Kristi) (Parent of Swetlana) (Parent of Mary & Jonna)

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 LOW PRIORITY PERSONAS

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 Businessman: my business promotion
High priority General Description
Age: 37 years Eric is the CEO of a mid-size company in Bahamas. He has
Occupation: CEO at JKL works done MBA in Finance. He receives reports from various
management systems, subordinates, and secretary as
email/ prints.

Eric is mostly busy, he delegates his work to his secretary

Goals Features/Needs
• Details to make a donation.
• Develop the business globally
• The recent development in the COB
• Create a good image in the society by donations &
• Add space on the website for company promotions.
philanthropic work.

User Tasks Scenarios

• Make donations 1. Opens the COB website
• Advertise his companies products on the COB 2. Sees the latest development in COB
website 3. Writes a check & sends an e-mail to the COB
department to collect it from his office.

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 Businessman personas

Justin Patrik Mahood Kazi Daniel Rostanava

(Civil contractor) (Electronics shop owner) (Consulting firm CIO)

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 Thank you

• Thank you

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