Planning – Personas & Scenarios

It is essential to know the user persona, artefact persona and the user scenario as these key three elements help the designer understand the users’ needs and the designer can somewhat visualise the concept of the final product.

Personas are fictional archetypal users. Personas can be explained as a fictional user of the product. A successful design always starts with an understanding of who will use the product, research is essential in this procedure.

The image above is an example of personas.

Scenarios are a narrative describing foreseeable interactions of types of users and the system. Scenarios can also be explained as the context in which the user will use it.

Artefact persona is a way to propose a visual on the final product and how and what it communicates, giving the artefact a persona will help identify the context that it is being designed for.

Design Process

Designing anything has a process in which to follow to be able to have a successful final outcome, such as designing interactive products.

The image above displays an interactive design process.

The first step for a design process is the pre project, where several teams are within the development stage where they have to meet up to a schedule, stay with a budget and answer to the client brief precisely, second step is the concept and planning, here is where the goals and messages are explored and decided, as well as visualising the final outcome, third step is the design, prototype and specifications, in this phase the first examples and solutions are derived, here is where it gets difficult with most of the focus on coordination and inspiration providing the answers on why and how the project should be, by the end of this phase the development team would have produced the visual design specifications and as well as the projects’ functions.

The forth step is the production, this is where functional specifications of the project should have been answered and the building of the final project takes place which would lead into the fifth stage which is testing, this is the phase that is essential to check every function and element is set and ready to go live and work independently, and the final stage is the launch/maintenance, here is where the project begins, as the project will need to be maintained and have updates and upgrades during its use.

Lecture Week 3

Summary

When designing products, there are specific steps which should be followed to ensure a successful final outcome. The design process in steps is as followed; pre project, concept and planning, design, prototype and specifications, production, testing and launch/maintenance.

After the design process comes the planning which involves personas and scenarios. Here it is essential to know the user persona, artefact persona and the user scenario; these three elements will help the designer understand the user and the product being created more clearly.

Reflection

To be able to design anything, there is always a process in which to follow to ensure the final product is successful. Being able to understand the users’ needs is critical as you need to be able to understand what the product is being created for and how it will be used when finalised. Understanding who the user is and what the product is will help the design process flow more smoothly.

Flowcharts & Storyboards

Definition

A flowchart can be defined as a type of diagram that represents an algorithm or process, which shows the steps as boxes and different various kinds of shapes, the steps are in order and are connected by arrows showing the flow and direction of the process.

Example

Step by step instructions on how to make toast

A flowchart on how to make toast

Definition

A storyboard can be defined as graphic organisers that are in forms of illustrations or images displayed in a sequence for the purpose of pre-visualising a motion picture, animation, motion graphic or interactive media sequence.

Example

A storyboard on how to make toast