Banter Design Personas

Main questions we need to know about each of these people:

  • Who do they usually communicate with?
  • How often do they communicate with them?
  • What are the workflows/use cases they use every day?

Ben

Age: 20

Student, Mechanical Engineering.

Hobbies: Cars, Rock Climbing.

Ben is president of the school's electric car racing club. Last summer, he participated in an internship at a car manufacturing company and maintains his relationships there. He loves to rock climb. He has a girlfriend named Beth, and they're getting more serious about getting married soon.

Goals: Stay connected to people within his social circle. Share multimedia items (images, sounds) unsuited to simple text with those people. Uses multimedia messaging within social/emotional contexts, as a stand-in for face-to-face conversation.

With whom does Ben communicate with regularly?

  • Other students in his program
  • His professors
  • His family
  • His friends

What are Ben's workflows?

  • Notification of contact availability Casual, face-to-face style conversation

Ben is at home after class, reading from a textbook, with his laptop on the table next to him He is gently notified by a soft chime and an tooltip bubble/icon flash in the notification area, that one of his most frequently-messaged contacts, Beth, has changed state from "away" to "available", implying that she has returned home. Ben wants to ask her how her day was, so he clicks the tooltip, creating a text message window for a conversation with Beth. After a greeting, Beth mentions that she got a new painting for her living room, and Ben asks to see it. He clicks the video button at the top of the message box, and Beth is prompted by a hyperlink in the message window of her Banter client to either accept or reject the invitation to videochat. She clicks "accept", and a new segment of the window unfolds from the top of each of their message windows, displaying the video feed. Beth aims her webcam at the new painting, and Ben approves heartily.

  • Triggering new email from contact information

  • Notification of new email

Ben is surfing the web when mentor, Greg, contacts him to tell him that the manufacturing company he interned for last year is looking to hire new staff for a summer project. Since Ben himself was such a fantastic intern, Greg thinks he would be a great candidate to train the new interns, and wants to recommend him for the job. Ben is excited about the possibility of a great summer job in his field, and wants to send Greg his resume to forward along. Ben clicks the bar near the top of Greg's message window, expanding the contact information segment of the window into a full business card. Ben clicks the hyperlink that is Greg's email address, and a new email window addressed to Greg is created. Ben attaches his resume, and sends it along. Greg's Banter client senses that he has just received new mail, and notices that the sender's email address matches that of someone he is currently chatting with. Banter recognizes the priority of the situation, and provides Greg with a hyperlinked notification within Ben's window, which would launch Greg's email client.

  • Trading visual items via video

Ben is chatting on his cellphone with his friend Emily from Racing Club. They are working on a project to design a car for an upcoming Grand Prix, and are brainstorming ideas. Emily suggests an innovative approach to power distribution, but is stuck on how it could be implemented. Ben has an idea, but the two are having trouble visualizing the same imagery over the phone. Ben sketches something out on a notepad, and suggests that they each head over to their laptops and fire up Banter. Upon seeing a mutual availability on each other's contact lists, Ben initiates a videochat by locating Emily's name on his contact list under the grouping "Racing Club", then clicking the video icon. A message window pops up on Emily's screen, asking him to accept the invitation, and a video feed begins in the message window. Through a series of frantic gesticulation and eager pointing at his sketch, Ben is able to communicate his idea. Emily thinks it will work, and they arrange to get together and solidify the plans later.

  • How might Ben interpret the interface?

Being a mechanical engineer, Ben understands his interface as a system of interconnected actions and reactions, and is naturally curious about every button, menu, and feature, and will likely go through them methodically to observe their functions. Being mechanically-minded, he utilizes spatial understanding when interacting with an interface; he treats it as if it were tangible, and expects it to respond accordingly. The information box rolls up, and by observing the motion, Ben immediately recognizes that a segment of the window is only temporarily folded away.

Maryann

Age: 27

Front line help desk worker, Big Time Enterprises.

Hobbies: reading, movies, coffee with friends, clubbing on weekends, knitting

Goals: Communicate with employees needing help, using multimedia capabilities to clarify complex issues. delegate issues to peers and other workers as needed, sharing multimedia items when text is unsuitable. Organize regular contacts (coworkers), and manage incidental contacts (employees needing help)

With whom does Maryann communicate with regularly?

  • Lots of different employees; many of these she helps with a particular issue for ten minutes and may never communicate with them again. A traditional "buddy" should not be added to her list of regular contacts.
  • Her peers on the help desk team
  • Other domain specialists inside the company who are part of the greater IT Department

What are Maryann's workflows?

  • Triggering new email from contact information

  • Notification of new messages, email

Maryann arrives back in the office after her lunch break, and notes that the Banter icon in her notification area is flashing. She mouses over the icon, and it says "Two messages pending". She doubleclicks the icon and her contact list moves to her current workspace. They are from her coworker, Emily. Emily has too many cases in her inbox, and is wondering if Maryann can take one. Maryann replies to Emily, confirming that she can take a case, and asks her to send over the details. Emily clicks the bar near the top of Maryann's message window, and, using the hyperlinked email address from the business card that appears, sends Maryann an email. Banter, senses that Maryann has new email from someone with whom she is chatting, and a notification announcing the email's arrival appears as a tile within Emily's message window on Maryann's computer. Maryann clicks the tile, and the email is opened in her email client.

  • Using audio chat Multiple ongoing chats

Maryann is sitting at her desk awaiting assignment, when a message window appears, along with an invitation to accept an incoming audio chat. She clicks accept, and is soon talking to Marcel Bonhomme, a panicked young man who works in product development. He has been having issues with the automated timecard tool, and is unsure whether or not his hours have been successfully filed. Marcel frantically describes the problem, prompting Maryann to lower the volume, using the slider located under the audio- and videochat buttons. She asks him to wait while she checks in with Payroll to ensure that their systems are online, and offers to call him back as soon as she can determine a solution. Marcel agrees, and Maryann ends the call by again clicking the audio button, toggling it to inactive. She locates the group marked "Payroll" on her contact list, and locates someone who is available. She doubleclicks their name and a new tab appears in the message window.

  • Retrieving a contact from cached history

After confirming that their systems are online and Marcel's hours have gone through, she closes the message window. However, by doing so, she inadvertently closes Marcel's message as well. Maryann does not have Marcel's contact info stored on her contact list, so she types "Marcel" into the search filter. Banter searches her past conversations and brings up two results: Marcel Bonhomme, and Marcel Smith, an ex-help-desker who no longer works for the company. Maryann doubleclicks Marcel Bonhomme's name, and initiates an audio chat with him. She lets him know that the issue is resolved.

  • Removing contacts from contact list, cached history

Maryann returns to her contact list, and is reminded of Marcel Smith, and how he used to steal her lunch from the communal fridge. She rightclicks his name, and selects "remove contact" from the menu that comes up. Marcel Smith's obsolete contact information, and memories of his unpleasant nature are removed from Maryann's contact history.

How might Maryann interpret the interface?

As a help desk worker, Maryann's strengths include determining the sources of problems from their symptoms, and maintaining a sympathetic social demeanor. She is detail-oriented, and will look closely over the and her impression of the interface is based on function. She sees the contact list as a directory, and the message window as the communication link. She is unlikely to click an unknown button until she suspects that it may trigger a function she needs.

Kevin

Age: 38

Director of sales for Look At Those Buildings, an architecture magazine.

Hobbies: Kayaking, fly-fishing, model airplanes

Goals: Stay in touch with the company for whom he works remotely. Communicate with existing his advertising contacts, and form new contacts, using multimedia capabilities to convey charisma and build rapport. Organize contacts and have various methods for those contacts available at a glance. Kevin sells advertisement space in the magazine for his company. He spends most of his time working with customers in the automobile industry. He not only goes after new business but manages current accounts. He works with others in the company who allocate the ad space. He works remote from his immediate manager. His teammates are located all over the country. His job does not require much travel. He gains new contacts by working with other sales people in the industry who may have contacts that may be interested.

With whom does Kevin communicate with regularly?

  • Customers
  • Potential customers
  • Industry peers (people from other companies who he's met in the past and has connections with)
  • Other people in his company who are involved with customer relations

What are Kevin workflows?

  • Determining contact availability

  • Asynchronous communication

Kevin wants to talk to his contact at General Motors about repeating their full-page ad in Look At Those Buildings. Kevin types “General Motors” into the search bar at the top of his contact window. Banter finds “General Motors” in the “Company” fields of a few different contacts, and among them, Mike's name comes up as online but unavailable. He mouses over Mike's name, and the tooltip displays Mike's away message: “Out to Lunch”, and idle time: 45 minutes. Expecting that Mike will probably be back soon, Kevin doubleclicks Mike's name and the message window appears. Kevin sends Mike a friendly note, reminding him that the new issue of the magazine is being put together, and requests that he get in touch when he returns. Kevin sets about doing other work, and a few minutes later, Mike replies. They briefly discuss ad rates and copy, and Mike gives Kevin the go-ahead to renew their ad.

  • Editing a contact

Mike mentions to Kevin that he is leaving GM soon. He wants to make sure Kevin has the name of the new contact at the company, Damon, but also wants to keep in touch with Kevin at his new job. Kevin clicks the bar under Mike's name in the message window, and it expands to a full business card. Kevin clicks the “edit” button. The hyperlinked contact fields become input fields. Kevin changes Mike's information to include a new phone number and clicks the expansion bar again. The business card rolls up and disappears, new information saved.

  • Adding a contact from the Contact List

  • Using video chat

Kevin then clicks the “add contact” button at the bottom of the contact list window, and a message window appears, in edit-business-card mode, all fields blank. Kevin inputs the information for a new contact. He bids adieu to Mike, and decides to introduce himself to Damon, who now appears on his contact list, and appears to be available. Kevin sends Damon a text ping, introducing himself as the ad rep from Look At Those Buildings, and asks if he has a free minute for a video meet-and-greet. Damon confirms that he is, and Kevin initiates a video chat by clicking the video icon at the top of the screen. Damon is prompted within the message window to either accept or decline Kevin's invitation. Damon accepts, and a video feed appears near the top of the message window. They chat. Kevin, is gregarious and jovial, and a budding business relationship is successfully formed.

  • Group chat

Kevin has to attend a meeting with the rest of the customer relations group of Look At Those Buildings magazine. Like Kevin, many of their representatives work remotely. Kevin sits at his computer and a message window appears, inviting him to accept a video chat. Kevin clicks the “accept” tile, and a video feed appears near the top of the message window, with subdivisions for each participant. Above the video feed is a list of the other people attending the group chat.

  • Adding a contact from the message window

Kevin doesn't recognize “Michelle”, and clicks her subdivision within the video feed, bringing her ID tab to the front, at the top of the window. He clicks the bar under her name, and the window expands below her name to display her full business card, which her Banter client provided to the network when she joined the chat. She is a new hire. Kevin rightclicks her name and selects “add to contact list”, and files her under “coworkers”. Since her contact information was relayed by Banter when she joined the group chat, all fields of her business card are already filled in. Kevin jots a note on his desk blotter to send her a welcome-to-the-group message after the meeting.

How might Kevin interpret the interface?

Kevin is a builder and an organizer. He functions as a link to the external for his company, so many of his contacts are unrelated to one another. Kevin uses the contact list primarily as a way to store and locate the myriad people he must keep on contact with.


CategoryUsability

Attic/Banter/Design/Personas (last edited 2018-01-14 21:26:54 by SvitozarCherepii)