Analyse needs

Enable participants to form a clear picture of who they are designing for by reviewing personas.

Preparation

30 mins

Delivery

15 mins

What is it

Mapping out personas allows participants to analyse where large goups of people (archetypes) fit against a set of attributes. This will reveal groupings and gaps that will provide them with a better understanding of who the people they will be designing for. This will also remind them that the "average user" doesn't exist.

How to do it

1 Prepare the materials and work space

Collaborate with the organiser on the following:

Set up the team work spaces. Write down a brief explanation of the task in a location visible to everyone.
Download the Persona mapping template ↓ and print one copy per team.
Use the Persona examples ↓ if your participants do not have personas to use for this exercise.

2 Introduce the exercise

Reiterate the purpose of the tool and cover the following:

Introduce the template and examples.
Ask teams to review the persona mapping template, which have axes that they may edit to reflect the unique business context they are designing for.
Advise teams to familiarise themselves with the personas.

3 Map the personas

Provide Post-it notes for teams to map the personas onto the template. Tell them to map the personas one attribute at a time and in relation to each other. Persona mapping

4 Encourage a discussion

Help teams decide who to design their solution for. Look for patterns or gaps that could be the basis of a debate. Use the following questions to stimulate the conversation: