three primary approaches explored in this book, based on the type of research and analysis performed: • Qualitative personas • Qualitative personas with quantitative validation • Quantitative personas

survey, which is best at testing what you think you already know.

Qualitative research is all about finding stories. You meet the characters, you listen to the plot lines for their goals and behaviors, and from the way they tell their stories, you discover their attitudes. Understanding breeds empathy, and empathy enables you to generalize and retell their stories as personas.

focus groups are not particularly useful for generating personas. Individual voices can be drowned out by groupthink,

The Great Steps of User-Centered Design: Step 1. Recognize that business results depend on making your users happy. Step 2. Realize that you are not your users. Step 3. Learn about your users by interacting with them. Step 4. Make the findings of this research understandable and actionable. Step 5. Make decisions based on this newfound user

The Elements of User Experience: User-Centered Design for the Web (New Riders Press, 2002), an excellent book by Jesse James Garrett.

Personas work because they tap into a primal part of our brain: We all respond to stories. When we hear a story, we’re able to put ourselves in the shoes of the characters, and we are drawn along by the narrative. Our instincts toward empathy kick in.

the order of the questions is important, not only because you want to make users feel comfortable, but also because the sequence of questions can create bias.

Personas bring the team together to create one shared vision of exactly whom you’re designing for and what they want.