Persona

I used the Persona method to define my ideal user I was designing for. Out of the five or so users I defined as important in my User Identification, I decided upon three concise personas being a vulnerable first year university student (Emily Stone), a wary infrequent visitor (Jessica Simpson) and a local retailer (Rakesh Patel). These are the three user groups I gathered who were most concerned about security and the perception of safety. I used the insights found in my previous research methods to form these user group representations.

Thinking from the perspectives of these personas helped to understand and provide me an intrinsic personal connection with my users. Common themes from my personas included a negative perception of safety, the lack of light, and a desire for the community to be brought together. The overarching feeling I got creating these personas was fear - fear of losing possessions, fear of abuse, and fear for others. Even if Dominion Road is quite safe, my user groups are stuck in the perception of "what if" someone's out there?