Target User Exercise

• Led by Priscilla Chung, Mimi Yin, Sheila Mooney

Session Notes

The purpose of the design exercise is to create a better understanding of the target users and how they would interact with the Chandler/Cosmo products when working in a small group collaboration.

Objectives were to have people work as team, explore real life scenarios and make the target user come to life. To have fun and be as creative!

We asked people to work in teams and fill out a questionnaire that will help define one of the target users. They are asked to select one photo out of a few different images of people. These images varied in ethnicity, age and gender. The groups used the questionnaire to help structure a descriptive write up of a target user profile.

Once the groups were finished writing their profile, they presented their user with the rest of team. Part of this presentation also gave context to how the different users may work with each other.

The target users profiles:

• AngieApex
• EliExecutiveAssistant
• HelenHub
• BartBusyBody (Coordinator)
• IvanIndividualContributor

Note: What we did not find out from the exercise is how each target user would coordinate with each other using the Chandler/Cosmo products.

Why we need target user profiles?

User profiles, also referred to as user archetypes and personas, is one of many UI design tools to help define and shape products and services. The goal is understand the actions and behaviors of an end user.

Here are a few links related to other industry professionals who describe the origins and reasons for creating 'personas':

• User Center Design in IT UC Berkeley (Presentation on 7/18/06)
• Definition of personas. Pubished on 4/11/03
• Personas: Matching a Design to the Users' Goals User Interface Engineering Pubished on 8/11/01
• The Origin of Personas by Alan Cooper.