UX Personas & How to Create Them

June 6, 2019 - Posted By: CreateApe

Whether you’re a small business owner or a large corporation working on a massive marketing campaign, a UX persona can increase your profitability margin exponentially. UX designers take these profiles of your target audience and create custom User Experiences that help make them, your target user or client, feel supported, intrigued, excited, etc. (Or whatever else you want them to feel, ya digg?)

Seems like a no brainer, right? Well… for the UX designer creating a persona isn’t just a good idea, it’s a friggin must.

What is a UX Persona?

UX personas are an important tool for your team to understand who your user is, what their particular needs are, and the problems that lead them to requiring your services and/or products. Likewise, a UX persona will also help your team’s efforts in creating a usable product or feature specific to the needs of real people.

Of course we understand (and it’s important to note) that your product or service is not just specifically made for one person or one type of need. For example, people from all walks of life suffer from sleep apnea, and a company serving the needs of those communities will have very different patient profiles. One patient could be super tech savvy and love the ease of a more efficient CPAP, whereas another patient may want the simple, not so technical CPAP because they get easily overwhelmed by too many options. A good UX design team will encourage their clients to create more than one UX persona for their product and/or service if multiple target demographics exist.

Simple Steps Every UX Designer Should Know (About Personas):

When it comes to creating UX personas every designer does it differently. However, there are a few aspects every designer should address. Your typical who, what, where, when, why format can get you started. And remember, these don’t have to be “real” people, just based on real life issues. Get creative!

Who is the person? (Name & Age)

What does he/she do for his/her occupation? (Work Life)

Where does he/she work at? (Location & Space)

When does he/she work? (Schedule)

Why is this person perfect for your service/product? (Relevance/Context)

Once you’ve created the personal aspects of your persona, you can move into different subgroups to create multiple personas. For example, determining their specific needs and goals, their workspace details, and personal history/background.

Perhaps that sleep apnea patient works graveyard shifts and her needs are different from a patient that works day shifts. One persona can be a female, the other a male, and both the same age; or all personas can be the same sex but different ages and so on and so forth.

Each UX persona has different wants, expectations, beliefs, and goals. In its essence, a UX persona is a description of the user. While the persona is “not a real person” per say, the needs, wants, beliefs, frustrations, and expectations definitely are. We recommend doing some research on your users before diving into creating your personas.

Below is an example of a UX persona that we made for one of our clients: Apria Direct…

As you can tell this persona is based off a 58 year old male who is a sleep apnea patient. Chuck is a construction worker who likely works long hours and sometimes graveyard shifts. His sleep patterns of course fluctuate according to his employment and we can grasp from his frustrations that in general he’s just a busy man who can’t have too many steps in his daily routine added to what his work life. We can gather from this persona that an automated refill order for his CPAP supply would best suit him. We can also gather that the refills should be shipped directly to his address in order to save him the time and inconvenience of insurance and billing processes, and of course remembering to PICK UP those refills.

Lastly, we’d like to zone in on some key differences between user personas and buyer personas.

Buyer Personas v. User Personas

Buyer personas are focused on sales and are developed by quantitative research. Your team’s research can help define the brand’s marketing message/slogan, product targeting, and content strategy. Buyer personas also aide in determining how your product will resonate in the marketplace and provide insight to your brand strategy. Essentially, buyer personas can help you initially attract a customer to your brand.

User personas are focused on habits and behavior, and are developed through qualitative research of much smaller/niche groups. User personas help define what the user would want and need in real life to reach their specific goals. This type of persona will aide in determining the context of use for your product/service and the typical behaviors of your users. User personas help your brand keep a customer once they’re interested.

At CreateApe we’re all about understanding your users and creating designs that make their experience that much more personal and relatable. . We also take pride in working out the efficiency measures needed for your users to navigate your website or mobile app with ease.. Through UX personas we’re able to create a unique space for your users that’s specifically made to match their needs–because, let’s face it, we’re tired of hearing about users going bananas over sites that are difficult to navigate, understand, and use!

Why Go On A Retainer?

September 13, 2018 - Posted by: CreateApe

If you’re a client that’s been working with a company on a month to month basis for a while now- you might want to start thinking about going on a retainer. It’s a win-win for both the client and the business.

Why Get a Retainer:

One of the biggest benefits of working on a retainer is the security and predictability for both the client and the business. You know the resource will be available for your needs when you need them, and the resource provider knows they will secure that work. A retainer can solidify and strengthen your working relationship.

1. Things get done fast. Like really fast.

Retainer clients are often put first because of the predetermined agreement to a monthly workload. Like we said, retainer clients become family. If the offices are closed on 5 p.m. on a Friday, we’ll still be there to put out fires that would normally be pushed to Monday. When your business gets busy, there’s already a solid resource available.

2. You’ve found a vendor you already trust!

In the end, you’ll be spending money to have someone do the work anyway, and it might as well be with a designer you already trust. If you’ve been working with them for a while not only do you know how they work, but how you work together.

3. Stability and security is hard to come by.

Every month a predetermined amount of work and income allow both parties to plan for the future. Retainers take the guest work out of quarterly estimates and budgets. Both parties can budget and determine hiring based on the stability of a retainer.

What’s Included:

Retainers are different for everybody and usually vary from client to client. There’s no one size fits all for a retainer and it varies from the service provided and project needs. At CreateApe, we cover everything. From high fidelity mockups, new conversion centric websites, responsive mobile designs, or even seasonal marketing designs, we offer it all.

Usually a big project that starts off the relationship is the beginning of an ongoing retainer. For example, if there’s a huge eCommerce redesign, we’re going to be focusing on the redesign but also little things might emerge out of the project. Landing pages, marketing banners, print design, things that are needed for basic maintenance of an eCommerce website are a great fit for a retainer.

A monthly retainer service allows businesses to develop a cohesive and long term plan while tracking results, permitting for more return from funds you’d be investing elsewhere. However, in the end, the most important aspect of a retainer agreement is the relationship between the agency and clients commitment to achieving overall business goals.

Want to learn more?

Let us help get you #JungleReady. Let our CreateApe expert team be your jungle guide.We will help you traverse the wilds as we take your project to new heights.

Damn, Another GDPR Privacy Email

June 1, 2018 - Posted by: CreateApe

If the words, “An update to our privacy policy” look familiar, you’ve probably received a flood of GDPR compliances in your email inbox this week.

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), is a legal framework that sets guidelines for collecting data and processing personal information in the European Union went into effect on May 25th, which means it will also affect any company we use regularly that conducts business in Europe.

Not only will it change the amount of emails in your inbox but also website design and UX. Now that users have more control over their data and whether they grant consent or not, GDPR will have an impact on design interfaces.

Twitter user’s were overjoyed about the sudden email attacks:

https://twitter.com/syswarren/status/999326817537417217 — Well…she’s not wrong

https://createape.com/damn-another-gdpr-privacy-email — Yiiiiiiikes.

https://createape.com/why-you're-getting-a-million-gdpr-emails/ — Even Harry Potter can’t escape GDPR updates.

Although annoying, at least these emails are the perfect opportunity to clear out all the unwanted mailing lists.

Mobile Design Workshop

May 18, 2018 - Posted by: CreateApe

CreateApe is excited to announce that our founder, Alessandro Fard, will be holding a Mobile Design Workshop in Los Angeles this Wednesday May 23rd from 6-8:30 pm at the WeWork Playa Vista.

The workshop will cover practical applications for UX, including best design patterns and strategies for each platform, with a special focus on critical elements of iOS and Android mobile apps: home screen, search, navigation, forms, and workflows. No experience in UX/UI design is needed to participate.

The activity based workshop will be focused on:

Individual and personalized case studies from the class attending.
Hands on experience with user-centered design approaches.
Learning storyboarding and user scenarios.
User testing of paper prototypes using Rapid Iterative Testing and Evaluation (RITE).
Practical application of mobile design patterns
NOTE: Topics covered will vary depending on attendee case studies presented. Bring your questions AND your work examples for Alessandro to offer suggestions on!

Participants will walk away with:

Best design strategy for iOS, Android and Web.
Understanding the essentials: Reinventing your interface with an agile and responsive approach.
Document use cases and personas in context using storyboards.
Selecting the right design pattern for interfaces to drive desired user experience.
Design usable and effective mobile forms and workflows.

With over fifteen-years experience in the web industry, Alessandro has worked directly with awesome companies like American Express, Best Buy, and Facebook. His work has been featured in VentureBeat, TechCrunch50, Newsweek, and his article “The UX University of Life” was featured in UX Magazine.

As a lifelong learner, Alessandro believes his everyday experiences can be leveraged as a part of an ongoing UX education. Great UX is something everyone can learn and achieve.

Parking:

There is plenty of street parking available around the building and a parking structure across the street at the Whole Food Marketplace.

For more information and to purchase tickets visit the link here! If you are a current or previous client of Alessandro’s please message us at support@createape.com to get your FREE registration code.

Event Sponsored By:

Schmoozd is an offline social event that serves a passionate community of culturally-connected people who are seeking an alternative way to socialize and network. A service from Creativewhiz, Inc., a digital agency based in Los Angeles.

How To Think Like A UX Designer

January 15, 2018 - Posted by: Alessandro Fard

Five tips that will get you thinking (and designing) like a UX expert! User Experience designers stay curious, endeavor to be empathetic, and work hard to be a team player. Read on for more… and let us know what you would add!

1. Don’t start designing without insight

If you don’t have time to do research, still observe. Still find that nugget of new information that changes the way a customer’s life will be as a result of your product, service, or brand. Make sure you have that insight and make sure your entire strategy is built on that insight vs. a brainstorming session that’s internal.

2. Live out your ABCs: Always be curious

A lot of what we see in terms of a great UX designer and an okay UX designer comes down to their level of curiosity. The ones that we’re less impressed with — for example, when I’m hiring — are ones that try to play it safe. They want to follow the rules, the patterns, the standards. They know what they’re doing, which is great, but they’re not really interested in what they don’t know.Verses the great designers, they can show you what they’ve done, but they can also ask questions and tell you what they would do differently and the questions they would ask that would be different on the same project again. Really hone in on that curiosity — it gets lost in the day-to-day. Really try to make sure you’re pulling that up.

3. Advocate and fight for the customer

There’s a lot of things that you’ll find that cost money, or that make the process different than what the business needs it to be, but it would be better for the customer. Registration forms are a great example. Businesses want to put that first, users don’t really like them. Really think about what is that customer experience and what do I need to change in order to improve the customer experience. Change can be stressful and sometimes you have to fight for it.

4. Remember, you’re not the only one with great ideas

Some of the proudest moments that I’ve had has not being coming in and delivering a recommendation report, but getting a team, especially a client team, to come up with the recommendations and solutions themselves. Really trusting that [your team members] knowthe business, they know what they’re doing, they’ve participated in the research with you and it’s a collaborative process to get them to ideate. They also will take those ideas further, so for anyone who’s consulting on the UX side, I have found success in not being the one who has the answers, but being the one who asks really great questions, which helps people find the answers within them.

5. Swap your mindset: You didn’t fail, you just learned and have an opportunity to iterate

When you make a ‘mistake,’ remember, those are great. Those are really important learning points, and you’re always learning. If you’re trying new things, you will likely fail. I mentioned earlier to a colleague, [if] there’s a task that I do and I haven’t done it right seven times, it doesn’t bother me — I’ll just try it again for the eighth. And that’s what makes or breaks a UX designer. If you’re trying new things, you will likely fail for part of it, which is great. Who cares? The important part is getting it right eventually.