Beyond User Needs: Personas for Social and Political Impact

Why It Matters

Traditional persona development often prioritizes functional needs, which can be insufficient when designing for social or political impact. By incorporating users' values and beliefs, designers can create more resonant and effective solutions that align with broader societal goals and encourage user engagement.

Key Finding

The study found that focusing personas on users' political and social values, in addition to their needs, can significantly enhance the effectiveness of designs aimed at social or political change.

Key Findings

• Traditional persona focus on needs and goals can be limiting for socially-oriented design.
• Incorporating political aspirations and social values into personas can lead to more impactful designs.
• Phenomenographic analysis is a suitable method for uncovering and representing these deeper user values.

Research Evidence

Aim: How can persona development be adapted to better represent users' political aspirations and social values for design projects with social and political objectives?

Method: Qualitative user research and persona development, informed by phenomenographic analysis.

Procedure: The researchers analyzed user data from two large-scale European projects focused on social innovation and eParticipation. They then developed personas that emphasized political beliefs and values alongside user needs, using a phenomenographic approach to data interpretation.

Context: Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) design, particularly for projects with social and political aims (e.g., social innovation, eParticipation).

Design Principle

Design for social impact by understanding and representing users' values and political aspirations.

How to Apply

When starting a design project focused on social change or civic engagement, conduct in-depth interviews that probe users' beliefs about society, their political views, and their aspirations for collective action. Use these insights to build personas that reflect these dimensions.

Limitations

The effectiveness of this approach may vary depending on the specific project's goals and the cultural context of the users. The phenomenographic approach requires careful application to avoid misinterpretation.

Student Guide (IB Design Technology)

Simple Explanation: When you're designing something to help people with social issues or to get them involved in politics, don't just think about what they need to do. Think about what they believe in, what they hope for society, and what they want to change.

Why This Matters: This research helps you understand that user needs are not always just about functionality. For projects aiming to make a difference in society, understanding users' deeper motivations and values is crucial for creating effective and engaging designs.

Critical Thinking: Consider the potential for designs that focus on social and political values to inadvertently create division or exclude certain user groups. How can designers mitigate these risks while still pursuing impactful social change?

IA-Ready Paragraph: The development of user personas for this design project was informed by research suggesting that for socially-oriented design, a focus beyond mere user needs is crucial. As De Paoli et al. (2018) highlight, incorporating users' political aspirations and social values can lead to more impactful and resonant designs. Consequently, this project's persona creation process included in-depth exploration of these dimensions to ensure a holistic understanding of the target users and to guide the design towards meaningful social outcomes.

Project Tips

• When creating personas for a social impact project, ask questions that reveal users' values and political leanings.
• Consider using qualitative analysis techniques like thematic analysis or grounded theory to identify patterns in user beliefs.

How to Use in IA

• Reference this study when justifying your choice to create personas that go beyond basic user needs, especially in projects with a social or political dimension.
• Use the findings to explain how understanding user values can lead to more impactful design solutions.

Examiner Tips

• Demonstrate an understanding that user-centered design extends beyond functional requirements to encompass users' values and beliefs, particularly in socially-oriented projects.
• Show how you have considered the broader social and political context of your design.

Independent Variable: Focus of persona development (needs vs. needs + values/aspirations)

Dependent Variable: Effectiveness of design solutions for social/political goals

Controlled Variables: Type of design project (social innovation, eParticipation), user demographic characteristics

Strengths

• Addresses a critical gap in traditional persona methodology for specific design contexts.
• Provides empirical evidence from real-world projects.
• Suggests a concrete methodological approach (phenomenography).

Critical Questions

• How can designers ethically navigate the representation of users' political and social values without imposing their own biases?
• What are the potential risks of stereotyping when incorporating political and social dimensions into personas?

Extended Essay Application

• An Extended Essay could investigate the ethical considerations of designing for social change, using this research as a foundation for exploring how user values should be represented and utilized.
• An Extended Essay could compare the effectiveness of different qualitative research methods in uncovering users' political and social values for design purposes.

Source

Creating personas for political and social consciousness in HCI design · Persona Studies · 2018 · 10.21153/psj2018vol4no2art736