- As we previously discussed,
personas are a powerful research tool
that can summarize users in order to predict a behavior,
validate findings, and test possible solutions.
In this section we'll take a closer look
at how to use our personas, Derrick and Mark,
to help explain the context of a research problem.
Let's use Derrick for this exercise.
Derrick is a 17 year old boy who has been skateboarding
since he was 12.
He wears baggy shorts and a t-shirt
of the band Sex Pistols.
He likes to listen to punk rock music
while he skates, and has a small group
of four or five friends that behave just like him.
He knows how to ride on multiple ramps
and can do numerous tricks.
If he messes up or falls, he laughs
and gets back up quickly.
He loves watching extreme games on tv
and aspires to be the next Tony Hawk.
What we're gonna try to do is reduce the amount
of injuries occurring at a newly-opened skatepark.
Derrick, our aggressive skateboarder,
will be perfect to help us frame
how and why this is happening.
To help us do this, we'll use our persona
along with an Event Map.
An Event Map is a graphic organizer
that allows the researcher to chart out an experience.
Think of it like this.
You see a commercial for Italian food.
You think, "I"m hungry."
You look up local Italian restaurants on the internet,
read some reviews, and choose a restaurant to go to.
These are all elements of an experience
that we could diagram out on an Event Map.
But what makes an Event Map unique is that
it adds an empathetic voice for the user or users involved.
Also, there's no set number of stages
to the experience, so the process is
a little more organic than say
the 5 E's experience model is.
Let's take a look at how this works.
To start an Event Map, let's consider our persona Derrick.
Using our research we'll determine
the most important steps of his visit to the skatepark
leading up to the point of when he gets injured.
Here's what we come up with.
I wanna go skateboarding today.
I think I'll go to the skatepark.
I wait around for my friends to arrive.
I ride and use the park and do tricks.
My friends talk me into trying a new ramp.
I hurt my leg and I have to visit the ER.
Okay, so let's look at each one of these steps
and add a little more information to the journey.
We'll add in Derrick's thoughts or voice,
and then we'll add in the skatepark's voice as well.
This will let us see how the two relate
to each other during each step.
The first stage is, I want to go skateboarding.
Derrick's thoughts are, What are my friends up to today?
Should I go downtown or to the new skatepark?
Who do I need to bring with me for the day?
The skatepark's thoughts are,
We want Derrick to use the park
instead of going downtown.
He needs to remember that the park can be dangerous.
He needs safety gear.
The next step is, I'll think I'll go to the skatepark.
Derrick, It looks like a lot of fun.
I'm a little scared of the big ramp,
but I'm not gonna tell anyone.
There's a lot of people here.
It will be fun to show off my skills.
The skatepark.
Is Derrick talented enough to use all of our ramps?
Will he understand his own limitations?
Will he watch out for the other people using the park?
Will he be wearing safety equipment?"
The next step is, I wait for my friends to arrive.
Derrick, I'm listening to music
and watching some skateboard videos on my phone.
I hope my friend brings his camera along today.
I watch other people, mostly good,
using different ramps in the park.
The skatepark.
Will Derrick's friends wear safety equipment?
Will he be pressured into anything
he's not comfortable with?
Will his ego get in the way of his good judgment?
Next, I ride the park and do tricks.
This is fun, my friends and I are
some of the best skaters here.
This park is a little too crowded
and people are always in my way.
We're getting great video of our tricks.
I can handle this skatepark.
The skatepark.
We want Derrick to enjoy the park and be comfortable.
We want him to be aware of others as well.
We want him to be careful if he's trying something new.
Finally, my friends talk me into riding a new ramp.
Derrick's thoughts.
I"m a little nervous, but I've pushed myself before
and I can handle this.
If I fall, it shouldn't hurt too much.
I'm not wearing a helmet or pads,
but I don't wanna look like a beginner.
And besides, no one told me that I had to.
The skatepark's reaction.
It's great that Derrick is trying something new,
but is he being safe about it?
Derrick must wear safety equipment,
especially if he's stepping out of his comfort zone.
So at this point we can assume the worst has happened
and Derrick has hurt himself because his friends
encouraged him to try something
that's maybe a little too difficult for him.
And worse yet, he wasn't being safe about it.
So what did this exercise do for us?
First, it summarized quite a bit of research
that we've collected and made it easily accessible
for others to understand.
Multiple problems are highlighted here
in a simple story that anyone could grasp
whether or not you're familiar with skateboarding.
It also defines more clearly the causes for our problem.
Peer pressure, inadequate safety messages,
the crowded park, and the egos of young skateboarders.
So, we've just used a persona and an Event Map
to frame our problem in a simple, accesible way.
We've also highlighted some areas
that are important to consider
in the solution of this problem.
Remember, creating an Event Map
requires the researcher to have a strong understanding
of the user and how they behave
within a particular environment.
Due to the amount of predictions researchers must make
in an Event Map, it's important to use this tool
with other synthesis tools like
The Five E's Experience Model,
a graphic organizer like Poems,
to ensure the results are credible.