You’ve probably had some experience of user-testing or launching software that’s failed spectacularly. What may seem like an intuitive UX and useful functionality to you could fall apart in seconds when an actual user sees and uses your software for the first time.
But how can you anticipate how your users will think about and use your software before you reach the prototyping and testing phase?
User personas are the answer. By keeping the focus on the user experience during the design process, you ensure that every member of the development team is on the same page and working towards the same goals.
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User personas are an integral part of agile development and user-centered design. They enable the development team to think about the needs of the actual end users of their product rather than focusing on a set of features without considering if they’re actually wanted and needed.
Creating user personas for your app development company puts a human face on your users, making it easier to create software that suits their needs. Rather than trying to think about how to design for your users as a generic group, you can think about how you can make your app easier for “Bob” to use, or what features will be useful for “Sarah”.
source: Dribble.com
Your user stories build on your user personas to describe what each user wants from the product so it fulfills their needs.
These user requirements become a list of features that form the basics of your app design and development. Each user story is a short sentence focusing on one aspect of functionality and usually has a “who + what + why” structure. For example: “Anna wants to organize her time so she can be more productive”.
source: Knowledge TRAIN
As a mobile- and web app development company, we just cannot emphasize this enough: Start by researching your market – the end users who will actually be using your software or app. If there’s an app with similar functionality already out there, look at who is using it and what they’re saying in feedback on app stores.
If you’re developing something completely new, interviews with real people are the best way to gather this kind of intelligence. Concentrate on their needs and challenges rather than your proposed solution. If you work for a web development company, information from analytics and social media is useful too.
This research will give you a good basis for creating user personas based on real people. Some information you might want to include in your personas include:
Name
Background (career, educational experience, interests etc.)
Job title and responsibilities
Knowledge level (about the concept of the app)
Context (what are they using the app for?)
Environment (where are they using it? E.g. at work or at home)
Pain points and challenges
Goals and Motivations (what do they want to achieve by using the app?)
Based on our decade of experience with mobile apps, three to five personas are sufficient for most apps and software projects. Once your team is familiar with the personas, you can create user stories based on your earlier research.
Skipping the important step of creating user personas and stories is a huge risk. Without a clear picture in your mind of who you’re designing and developing for, there is a significant chance you’ll end up creating something that’s not suitable for your users.
Even worse, you could create an app that might work well for you but doesn’t really meet the needs of anyone else.
Using personas and user stories helps to position your product better in the marketplace and ensures you’re creating software that your audience wants and needs.
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