The User is Always Right: A Practical Guide to Creating and Using Personas for the Web

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New Riders, Aug 21, 2006 - Business & Economics - 312 pages

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 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.

 

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About the author (2006)

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. 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.

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