Drop everything you're doing and read this book right away. It will change the way you create every product and service, with incredible results.
Jared Spool,
User Interface Engineering
There's no better way to tap the power of personas for creating great designs than Steve Mulder's clear and accessible guide.
Jesse James Garrett, author of The Elements of User Experience
In this lively and witty book, Mulder shows how personas can deliver effective online business strategies and sell them to hard-boiled VPs and concept-resistant marketing directors. After reading it, you will not only create better personas, you will use them to create effective sites and sell them to your toughest clients.
Jeffrey Zeldman, author of Designing With Web Standards, 2nd Edition
Finally, some hard numbers to support the fine art of personas. This book will help anyone bringing this powerful user-centered technique into their design process.
Jeffrey Veen, Design Lead at Google and Founder of Adaptive Path
Steve Mulder's seminars and lectures have encouraged companies and teams to get to know their customers through personas. There has only been one thing missing in all of these years...the book. The wait is over.
Kelly Goto, author of Web Redesign 2.0: Workflow That Works
The User Is Always Right
A Practical Guide to Creating and Using Personas for the Web
by Steve Mulder with Ziv Yaar
How do we ensure that our Web sites actually give users what they need? What are the best ways to understand our users' goals, behaviors, and attitudes, and then turn that understanding into business results? Personas bring user research to life and make it actionable, ensuring we're making the right decisions based on the right information. This practical guide explains how to create and use personas to make your site more successful.
The User Is Always Right: A Practical Guide to Creating and Using Personas for the Web takes you through each step of persona creation, including tips for conducting qualitative user research, new ways to apply quantitative research (such as surveys) to persona creation, various methods for generating persona segmentation, and proven techniques for making personas realistic. You'll also learn how to use personas effectively, from directing overall business strategy and prioritizing features and content to making detailed decisions about information architecture, content, and design.
Steve Mulder is principal consultant at Molecular, an Internet consulting firm in Boston, and an internationally known speaker recognized for his work with personas. He’s a user experience expert who practices what he preaches, with over ten years of experience in user research, information architecture, interaction design, and usability. Learn more at MulderMedia.com.
Ziv Yaar is the vice president of Internet strategy at Molecular, where he has spent over ten years helping companies develop technology and business strategies and has been at the forefront of merging the power of marketing analytics with personas.
Part 1: Introducing Personas
Chapter 1. Putting the User Back in User-Centered Design
Chapter 2. Meet the Personas
Part 2: Creating Personas
Chapter 3. Approaches to Creating Personas
Chapter 4. Conducting Qualitative User Research
Chapter 5. Conducting Quantitative User Research
Chapter 6. Generating Persona Segmentation
Chapter 7. Making Personas Real
Part 3: Using Personas
Chapter 8. Keeping Personas Alive
Chapter 9. Directing Business Strategy
Chapter 10. Scoping Features and Functionality
Chapter 11. Guiding Structure, Content, and Design
Chapter 12. Measuring Success
