Understanding personas with alan cooper protech training. They are the foundation for all subsequent goaldirected design. Personas and goals having gone out into the wide world to understand your users lives, motivations, and environs, a big question arises. The essentials of interaction design, fourth edition is the latest update to the book that shaped and evolved the landscape of interaction design. In 1999, alan cooper published his successful book, the inmates are running. As he describes it, a persona is an archetype for a class of users our system needs to serve. Ive included several references by kim goodwin, one of alan cooper s senior designers, to fill in the details that i cant provide in the space of a short article. The essentials of interaction design by alan cooper. Essentially making the case personas should be used to design for the user as opposed for the buyer.
A persona is a fictional archetype character created to represent the different user types that might use the application or product. The long road to inventing design personas onezero. On page 5 of this landmark book, alan begins to point out that personas are user personas and not buyer personas when referencing the use of personas in the design of digital products. I hope someday that one of the very accomplished architects at cooper will write that book because they have developed the technique to a degree of sophistication well beyond my seminal efforts. Alan cooper is known as the father of visual basic, a title given to him by mitchell waite, who wrote the waite groups visual basic howto, the first book written on the subject. Persona, design method, scenario, usercentered design introduction the use of personas, fictional people, in product design is widely heralded. A persona is a fictitious, specific and concrete representation of target users. Alan cooper and the goal directed design process by hugh dubberly. He describes the scenario as the investigation of tasks. This book, along with kim goodwins designing for the digital age, is the best place to start for aspiring interaction designers to learn about user experience design. For every designer who uses personas, i have found even more who strongly. Jul 06, 2015 alan cooper 1999, the inmates are running the asylum, p127. The persona is an archetype description of an imaginary but very plausible user that personifies these traits especially their behaviors, attitudes, and goals. Personas a simple introduction interaction design foundation.
He literally helped invent a new field, consequently changing how. In the 1990s, cooper published two books on interaction design, about face and the inmates are running the asylum, which have become required reading for practitioners. Beyond the usability lab conducting largescale online user experience studies. The customer personas developed by technology pioneer alan cooper have many uses across various business disciplines from product development to marketing.
This comprehensive guide takes the worldwide shift to smartphones and tablets into account. Coopers approach differs from taskanalysisbased ap. Rocha n, neves t, damasceno a and arieira l personas and scenarios to improve the development of an electronic social record platform proceedings of the 8th international conference on software development and technologies for. Jan 19, 2010 the origins of buyer personas resides with one man and one man only alan cooper. In 1998, alan cooper made mention of personas in his book the inmates are running the asylum based on the emerging usercentric method of designing software. Alan cooper pioneered key concepts like designing for intermediates, goaldirected design, and personas which have become cornerstones of this burgeoning profession. Look for more on personas, principles, and other aspects of interaction design in future issues of the cooper journal, and keep up the good work. In their book, fire in the valley, authors paul freiberger and mike swaine, credit me with writing the first serious business software for microcomputers as far back as 1975. Alan cooper born june 3, 1952 is an american software designer and programmer. Part 1 and part 2, articles by shlomo goltz for smashing magazine.
Alan cooper interviewed several people among the intended audience of a project he was working on and got to know them so well that he pretended to be them as a way of brainstorming and. Alan cooper the inmates are running the asylum, published in 1998, introduced the use of personas as a practical interaction design tool. In this book, cooper outlines the general characteristics, uses and best practices for creating personas, recommending that software be designed for single archetypal users. Understanding personas an interview with alan cooper. Aug 04, 2017 your guide to successful persona building. Alan cooper is a founder of cooper and a pioneer of modern computing. The untold story of alan cooper, the father of visual basic. Why hightech products drive us crazy and how to restore the sanity. They are the bright light under which we do surgery. In 1999, alan cooper published his tremendously successful the inmates are running the asylum cooper, 1999 where the persona as a concept to describe fictitious users was introduced for the first time. Alan cooper interviewed several people among the intended audience of a project he was working on and got to know them so well that he pretended to be them. An introduction to personas the use of personas, fictional people, in product design is widely heralded. The inventor of the personas, alan cooper, has the following definition of personas in his book.
The idea of personas was first introduced in the late 90s by alan cooper in his book, the inmates are running the asylum. His groundbreaking work has influenced a generation of programmers, business people, and users. So why are they still so dauntingly complicated to use the highly renowned alan cooper, the father of visual basic, tackles this issue headon with his new book, the inmates are running the asylum, from sams publishing. Perfecting your personas, an article by kim goodwin for cooper journal.
Cooper, cofounded by industry giant alan cooper and his wife sue, is a leading user experience and service design consultancy based in san francisco. This book is for people who just need to know what to do and what order to do it in. Based on the singlechapter discussion in that book, personas rapidly gained popularity in the software industry due to their unusual power and effectiveness. Your guide to building and using personas offers a practical guide to the creation and use of personas, which can help product designers, their team, and their organization become more user focused. In these moments of the book, cooper is nothing short of genius. In this book alan cooper efficiently illustrates the accurate point that users dont often know what they want when designing a system. Interaction design luminary alan cooper discusses the importance of using personas in designing interfaces that will help your users to. Cooper playacted fictitious characters in order to help solve design questions. The first book ever written about visual basic, the waite groups visual basic howto by mitchell waite, is dedicated to alan cooper. Interaction design luminary alan cooper discusses the importance of using personas in designing interfaces that will help your users to achieve their. From business to buttons is the meeting place for everyone who wants handson advice on how to generate business. In the book, cooper introduced a new concept that he called personas as a practical interaction design tool.
In other words, the idea is to give a face to potential user. A scenario is a concise description of a user using a softwarebased product to achieve a goal ibid p. The bruce persona ive provided is more terse than a real persona should be, but well flesh it out progressively during the remainder of this article. Personas the encyclopedia of humancomputer interaction. Various concepts emerged, such as user archetypes, user models, lifestyle snapshots, and model users. He is the author of two groundbreaking books on interaction design, creator of the. Widely recognized as the father of visual basic, cooper is also known for his books about face. If you are involved in designing systems in any way or are simply interested in the concept, this book is a must have read. Like so much software of the time, it was terribly hard to. Personas alan cooper first captured the idea of personas in his book the inmates are running the asylum coo99. Alan cooper has been a pioneer in the software world for more than 40 years. He joined the faculty in 1997 as a professor of bible, and has served as director of publications chair of the bible faculty, and, from 2007 to 2018, provost of jts. Make your personas great again in 7 simple steps ux.
Leveraging big data to model an ideal buyers persona forbes. The book is far better because of the contributions of kim goodwin, lane halley, kelly bowman, scott mcgregor, david west, mike nelson, mark dziersk, alan karp, terry swack, louie weitzman, wayne greenwood, ryan olshavsky, john meyer, lisa saunders, winnie shows, kevin. The essential interaction design guide, fully revised and updated for the mobile age about face. The technique was popularized for the online business and technology community in his 1999 book the inmates are running the asylum. There are a vast number of articles and books about personas, however a unified understanding of one single way to apply the method doesnt exist, nor does a definition of what a persona description should contain. Personas were informally developed by alan cooper in the early 80s as a way to empathize with and internalize the mindset of people who would eventually use the software he was designing. Alan is considered and revered by many as the founding father of personas and their use for the interaction design of digital products and mediums. For over 30 years, alan cooper has been a pioneer of the modern computing era. Since inmates was published, many people have asked for the history of cooper personas, and here it is. The inmates are running the asylum goodreads share book. Youll learn the principles of good product behavior and gain an understanding of cooper s goaldirected design method, which involves everything from conducting user research to defining your product using personas and scenarios. As time went on, he formalized the process of researching and generating user personas, and in the 1990s wrote the book the inmates are running the asylum, followed by about face. The inmates are running the asylum argues that, despite appearances, business executives are simply not the ones in control of the hightech industry. Robert reimann was founding president of the interaction design association ixda.
Aug 06, 2014 personas were informally developed by alan cooper in the early 80s as a way to empathize with and internalize the mindset of people who would eventually use the software he was designing. Understanding personas an interview with alan cooper youtube. Alan gives his personas names and personality types. Based only on my singlechapter discussion in that book, personas rapidly gained popularity in the software industry due to their unusual power and effectiveness. In his dedication, the author calls cooper the father of visual basic. Designing for the digital age, a book by kim goodwin. Personas are also used in user experience design, known as user personas. In this book about the darker side of technologys impact on our lives, alan cooper begins by explaining that unlike other devices throughout history, computers have a meta function. The use of personas, fictional people, in product design is widely heralded. This product is not just an interesting book, it is also a very useful tool. These personas need to be based on user research and can also be described in narrative form. He is best known as the father of visual basic and is the founder of cooper, a leading interaction design consultancy.
Ultimately, product personas are parameters that limit the teams scope thereby limiting waste. In this book, cooper outlines the general characteristics, uses and best practices for creating personas. Personas are not real people, but they represent them. Alan cooper is the elaine ravich professor of jewish studies.
Personas were informally developed by alan cooper in the early 80s as a way. Personas are the single most powerful design tool that we use. His groundbreaking work in software design and construction has influenced a generation of programmers and business people alike and helped a generation of users embrace interaction design. Within software design, alan cooper, a noted pioneer software developer, proposed the concept of a user persona. Mar 09, 2018 twenty years ago, alan cooper wrote a book about software design and how analysts and developers were creating software products that were not userfriendly. A persona in usercentered design and marketing is a fictional character created to represent a. By designing for the archetypewhose goals and behavior patterns are well understoodyou can satisfy the broader group of people represented by that archetype. The company helps businesses uncover product, service and business opportunities and offers training in topics such as product and service design, brand strategy and leadership.
In 1999, alan cooper published his successful book, the inmates are running the asylum, where he, as the first person ever, described personas as a method we can use to describe fictitious users. Ultimately, youll acquire the knowledge to design the best possible digital products and services. Interaction designers have been employing the use of personas as a design thinking tool since the 1980s, but they were not in wide use until alan cooper popularized them in 1999 in his book the inmates are running the asylum. Alan cooper pioneered product personas and detailed their benefits in his book the inmates are running the asylum. In their book, fire in the valley, authors paul freiberger. In this lesson, youll learn more about tech pioneer alan cooper and the ways he has innovated business, including his creation of customer personas, which are used in product development. Personas were invented by alan cooper and first described in his book, the inmates are running the asylum.
Process an introduction to personas the use of personas, fictional people, in product design is widely heralded. Many practicing designers have used the brief 25page description of personas in inmates as a persona howto manual, but a complete howto on personas has yet to be written. Alan cooper writes, the inmates are running the asylum, published in 1998, introduced the use of personas as a practical interaction design tool. Personas for product management silicon valley product group. In short, about face 3 will show you how to design the best possible digital products and services. Mar 23, 1999 in this book about the darker side of technologys impact on our lives, alan cooper begins by explaining that unlike other devices throughout history, computers have a meta function.
A persona is a user archetype you can use to help guide decisions about product features, navigation, interactions, and even visual design. Personas allow us to see the scope and nature of the design problem. The user persona is one of the most significant design strategies to emerge from the usercentred design movement in computing from the mid80s onwards. The origin of personas, an article by alan cooper for cooper journal. Your guide to successful persona building ignation medium. Creating personas helps you understand your users needs. A great book, easy to read, full of irony, and seminal for new in 2006 concepts and tools, such as the usage of personas.
Hopefully, these tips will help you refine your personas so you can get the most out of them. Join facebook to connect with alan cooper and others you may know. Using them can be a valuable tool, but using them incorrectly can hinder exploration within design process. I had the privilege of working with alan cooper, through his esteemed cooper interaction design firm now called. A brief history of personas the term user persona was coined by alan cooper in 1998 in his book the inmates are running the asylum user personas were borne to prevent software from being developed in an ad hoc, random or accidental manner user personas helped teams ensure products were user driven, not feature driven. Based on the singlechapter discussion in that book, personas rapidly gained popularity in the software.
The tool was first described in 1998 in one of my alltime favorite books, the inmates are running the asylum, by alan cooper. For this we focus on books, papers, and websites that. The book also gives reference to other literature where more explanation may be needed like on usability testing or persona research. Alan cooper, robert reimann, david cronin beyond the usability lab conducting largescale online user experience studies book january 1, 2010. Apr 18, 2016 interaction designers have been employing the use of personas as a design thinking tool since the 1980s, but they were not in wide use until alan cooper popularized them in 1999 in his book the inmates are running the asylum. While alan still leads cooper as a director, he and his wife have moved to a former dairy ranch in petaluma, california.
They have inadvertently put programmers and engineers in charge, leading to products and processes that waste huge amounts of money, squander customer loyalty, and erode competitive advantage. Software designer and programmer alan cooper is widely credited with inventing user personas through his work as a software engineer in the 1980s. May 12, 2017 alan cooper s talk on from business to buttons, on april 27 2017 in stockholm. Twenty years ago, alan cooper wrote a book about software design and how analysts and developers were creating software products that were not. Youll learn the principles of good product behavior and gain an understanding of coopers goaldirected design method, which involves everything from conducting user research to defining your product using personas and scenarios. This nickname has often served as coopers oneline resume. Had personas been developed in the laboratory, the full story of how they came to be would have been published, but i invented personas over many years in my.
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