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Introduction to User-
Centered Production
Dr. Will Kurlinkus
University of Oklahoma
+ Technical Documents: Key Points
1. Users
n Difference between a user and an audience.
n Who are your users? Always more than one type.
n What do you know about their skills, their background knowledge, their demographics?
n How can you find out more about your users? Why might you want to?

2. Goals
n What are your user’s goals?
n Primary, secondary, tertiary?
n How can you help different types of users achieve their different goals efficiently?
n Think dual stream reading.

3. Stakeholders
n Beyond your users, who else has a stake in you being successful at the document you are creating? The
difference between a client and their users/customers.

4. KPI’s: Key Performance Indicators

§ Before you start creating a document (or any project) for someone, set Key Performance Indicators.
Markers that show that you have been successful at your work and that show the client when you are
done.

5. SME’s: Subject Matter Experts

n Who can you gather information from in order to make texts in the best manner possible?

6. Textual Tests
n How can you test that your document makes sense and is useful.
Student Example: Screen Print

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User Persona
Personas are fictional characters, which you create based upon
your research in order to represent the different user types that
might use your service, product, site, or brand in a similar way.
Creating personas will help you to understand your users’ needs,
experiences, behaviours and goals. Creating personas can help
you step out of yourself. It can help you to recognise that different
people have different needs and expectations, and it can also help
you to identify with the user you’re designing for.

n Character Bio: Name, photo, job, motivations, skills, interests,

values, pain points, how the character has succeeded and failed
at the activity in the past.

n Scenarios: Tell short stories of this persona doing the task in

action, incorporating features of the bio. Shows why and how this
action might take place.
n Goals: Shows the character’s goals in doing the task.
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User Personas: n

n To keep real users and their needs at the heart of the design

Key Things to
process (and they can be motivators at the beginning or
demonstrations at the end)

n To help imagine how certain users would respond to designs and

Know & Include tasks throughout the design lifecycle instead of immediately and
always testing with those users

n To storify user-research in order to persuade clients that certain

design choices are the best way to go
Without personas, everyone on the
Team might imagine a different target user n

n Keep in mind the multiple types and needs of personas (use cases),
representing them with multiple personas

n Highlight user needs, motivations, and pain points related to the

activity system at hand: what are this user’s goals, key questions,
frustrations, behaviors, and motivators

n Photo that shows user in natural setting (not posed)

n Name, Age, Location, Occupation, Brief Bio that tells the story of
who your persona is and how/why they interact with the design
topic at hand

n Other persona content: hobbies, educational level, salary,

personal quote, online activities/familiarity with tech
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n What Are Pain Points?: Frustrations that stop users from getting
from point a to point b to complete their goals.

What Pain Points Do You Have In A Typical Week: Shopping,

playing video games, going to school?
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1. Create a Primary User Persona for a Member of Your
Organization Completing Your Instruction Set

“I love the Western U.S. and seeing how

different Oklahoman artists represent it”

Add image that

represents this Goals Frustrations
● Find new local artists ● Finding out info about
persona
● Travel the state local artists can be
● Learn more about difficult
these artists before ● Some gallery owners
buying their works don’t know about their
artists or don’t like to
talk
Bryan Larson
Age: 53 Bryan is a history professor who studies “the West” and is
Education: PhD History interested in western U.S. art and culture. On the weekends he
Hometown: Norman, OK travels around Oklahoma to find small art galleries that display
Family: Wife local artists. He loves discovering new artists and finding out
Occupation: Professor more about them.
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2. Create User Persona 2: With a
Slight Difference in User Goal This
Time
“Oklahoma is…different. I’m trying to start a
new home here.”

Add image that

represents this Goals Frustrations
● Meet new people ● ”I don’t know anything
persona
through art about Oklahoma and
● Find art about cities am new to the area so
● Learn about local finding local galleries
artists who have and knowing about
moved too how to talk to them is
hard”
Mel Petersen
Age: 40 Mel just moved to Oklahoma from New York City after
Education: MD completing her MD and working for a year. She works for the
Hometown: Oklahoma City local university medical center. She’s experienced a culture
Family: none shock but has found that art, particularly art about
Occupation: Doctor metropolitan areas, and the people she meets exploring local
art is fun pastime.
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User-Centered Research and Design

n Ethnography: The study of a person/culture in context with the

goal of uncovering cultural codes, covert expertise, and
vernacular literacies. To gain this understanding ethnographer’s
use a variety of methods including:
n Observation: Going out and observing in the wild. Mimicking as
close to real world conditions as possible. Not interrupting. Seeking
out things that you don’t understand—codes and culture involved in
the job. What does this thing mean? Why did you do it that way?
n Fly on the wall research.
n Think aloud protocol: Asking your SME to think aloud about what
they are doing and why while they are performing a task.
n Interviewing + Storytelling: Tell me about a time…
n Literacy narratives: How did you learn this?
n Empathy mapping
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What Are User
Stories?
User Stories: Fictional, one-sentence stories, told from the persona’s point of view to
inspire and inform design decisions. They connect the needs of a potential user to a
specific action and benefit.

Type of User + Action + Benefit

1. "As a.... ” type of user

2. "I want... ” What the user hopes to happen.

3. "So That... ” Why the user wants that to happen.

n As a dog owner, I want to trust my dog walker so I can hire them for
regular walks.

n As a mother of two, I want to limit the amount of access to my home so I can

keep my family safe.

n As a former police officer, I want to track my dog walker so I am

comfortable with the safety of my pets.
 USER STORY

[Bryan Larson]
As a/an
local Western art collector type of user

I want to I want to more easily learn about local artists' stories

action

so that I can decide who is truly local and what their motivations for painting are
so that
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benefit