Primary and Secondary User Persona Examples
Personas are fictitious characters that are created to represent the different user types within a targeted demographic that might use a site or product. Personas are most often used as part of a user-centered design process for designing software or online applications, in which the goals, desires, and limitations of the user are considered when designing the product. The above link provides a pdf with a primary and a secondary user profile I created while working on the FalconNet project for Bentley University.
Bentley FalconNet Usability Study Report
Bentley University created FalconNet as a tool for students, alumni and potential employers to connect with one another inside the Bentley domain. Unfortuantely due to a plethora of usability issues early adoption was somewhat lacking. As a result the school requested a usability study be conducted to weed out the main issues for both student and alumni users to try and enhance the over all user experience. The project was conducted as part of a team of students via HFIDO again while I was serving as Director of Testing & Assessment. The final report along with screenshots, usability session findings, survey results and recommendations can be viewed download with the link above.
We’re going agian, but this time for a full day to an outdoor field (with a BBQ lunch).
http://bentleygsa.org has the info.
So it’s 11:23 on Wednesday night, April the 2nd. I have a ton of random things to do but everytime i finish something, another issue comes up… its pretty frustrating. I have not even played Mass Effect since last Friday sadly enough. However, this log of work and frustration is mainly visit to my detour over the last couple of days from focusing on the present to looking to the future. As the previous blog entry indicated, i visit UB Sunday/Monday/Tuesday of this week. Monday & Tuesday were spent visiting the campus and meeting faculty/students in their Human Factors Engineering PhD program. Today (Wednesday the 2nd) I had a job interview at Wiklund R&D and throughout it i’ve been doing small school tasks and GSA schedulings.
I’ll go through this in reverse order because its easiest for me. GSA, paintball event is on for P&L, it’s gonna be amazing and I can’t wait. The great part is that I play 2 weekends for free because of Jr’s bachelor party the previous weekend. But that is my current light in an otherwise dark hallway. Beyond that light and currenlty barely visible due to the luminence of the first light (Paintball) looms Bowling, NU Capstone presentations & Conors, and Japan… oh and graduation I suppose. However, Japan, the previous supernova in his hallway has began to burn the remaining carbon in its core as I start to worry about planning the trip and the fiscal details of my grand adventure… but make no mistake, i’m still teetering on insanity with anticipation for the journey.
Wiklund R&D is located in Concord MA, actually not far from my school. Its a small HF consulting firm that primarily does medical devices, very successfully. Two Bentley students i’ve had class with work there, which is nice, i’m just not sure if doing many projects of the same nature (medical) will meet my ‘consultant range of projects’ desire for a job. I have to think about this tomorrow and get back to them, but honestly I think I find it very interesting and love the fact that its a small, horizontal company for the most part. Plus I think i’d be able to hook up my PS3 there for Tiger Woods, but it sounds like they don’t have much downtime… AND i’d have potential for Global Travel, which is a definite plus as those of you who know me, know very well. I think they are interested in me, but i guess i’ll decide tomorrow after i’ve really sat down and pondered my life’s goals for the next 3-5 years.
Off topic, our volleyball team lost a game while I was away, we are no longer undefeted, sigh.
AND very importantly, i don’t use spell check on this blog so apologies for that.
then there’s SUNY Buffalo. A PhD, Dr. Jenkins aka Professor Jenkins, aka Senior Military Research Scientist Jenkins, aka Astronout Jenkins. The program, the faculty, the current student, the research, and the offer are all outstanding. I could get housing at a bare minimum cost, my first year’s tuition is guarenteed free (will need grants after that) and I get additional benefits which are very tempting. The opportunities it will present to me, not only after graduation, but while i’m there seem outstanding. The research freedom seems to be absolute. So what’s the downside? Well the way I see it there are 4 things that are preventing me from moving to Buffalo and doing this PhD. In order of importance (for the first time ever) are as follows:
1) It is Buffalo, compared to Boston and Seattle (my two baseline cities), it is not even a fair contest. This past Sunday at 630pm i was in DOWNTOWN Buffalo and there was not a single soul to be seen for literally about 8 city blocks in both directions along the street where their major train runs… it was quite like I Am Legend. Buffalo is not horrible by any means, it has a very strong art/music movement to it, and the bars i’ve seen i’ve liked. But i just have this connotation of my family moving away to better things, and my cousins trying to move away to better things…. and i’d be going back… for 4-6 years. I’m sure the first year would be fine, but its the long haul that worries me. Also, Buffalo is not within 50 miles of a coast, which was a job restriction on where i’d be able to live. They have lake Erie, but that doesn’t count.
2) the 4-6 years. Simply stated, i’d be most likely 28 or 29 years old, with an NPV (stupid MBA) of roughly $1,000 if i’m lucky? The way i’m looking at life, i’m figuring my original goal was to retire by age 32, and this is quite impossible if i take this route. So with my original life expectancy of 63 years of age (ask me about this if you are interested) it would roughly mean half of my life has been spent with my face in a book or in a lab studying instead of accumulating wealth. While put this way that seems very materialistic… what i’m getting at is that basically i’ll be further delaying “the real world” that i’ve put off for 24 years as is, and i’m starting to mature enough to realize this can’t go on. On the upside, 4-6 years would directly support my personal goal of continuing educating myself for my entire life, which is a definite plus. But being 29 with no physial home, no savings, no family, no even city/state or region to call ‘home’ since i’ll be relocating again i’d imagine, is a depressing thought. Piled with the fact that the likelihood of me seeing my closest friends more than 3-4 times a year, this becomes a major negative on the PhD path.
3) No income. While i admit that my current fiscal situation would likely be very similar to the UB track so it wouldn’t be a downgrade, i can say that i’m sick of not having income.
4) The commitment. I’ve never had to make a committment that was longer than 6 months. Everyjob i’ve had, every semester of school, every place i’ve lived… was in 6 month windows. You could argue that NU and Bentley were longer, but my point is that every 6 months i saw a major change in my routine. NU went from classes to working… Bentley went from Classes to Classes to Intern to vacation… to Class to Japan… I think i have a serious psychological issue with making a committment that goes beyond what i can accurately predict the outcomes for other areas of my life. I think i will ask Kati Libby her opinion on this matter.
Other smaller deterents (Sp?). Buffalo’s horrendous economy = no side consulting. Tom Brady would not come with me. Rent/Food/Books/Insurance/Cell phone bill/etc. Moving my physical assets…again. Major disconnect from current friend network which i enjoy.
I will say one positive however is that UB represents 30,000 new people I can meet. So while I am getting older, i’m still ONLY 24 so Buffalo would give me another chance to define my character and self taking into accont what i’ve learned from Lakeville, Northeastern, Seattle, Seattle, & Bentley.
that’s it for now kids. if you read this blog, this is the post to comment on with your opinions on what you think I should do, or more importantly, why you think I should do. I’m really still like 60/40 (PhD/Work) at this point so we’ll see.
6-0 tonight in paintball, got shot 3 times (face, shoulder, back-same team?).
The event went very smoothly and everyone seemed to have a good time. I will say that I was quite upset that they disallowed automatic firing or even 3-round bursts so my gun was reduced to a semi-auto… I still lit up quite a good deal of Bentley chums though.
I fully plan to go again within a month, and come spring to organize several trips to P&L.
Also, i walked away with about 5,000 rounds of paint…. schwinggggg.