Is an organization ready for using personas?

Our research team has conducted a series of research studies examining when and how organizations can effectively use personas. Some findings are: (a) Personas for social good are primarily exploratory and focused on initial methodology development. (b) We develop and validate the Persona Readiness Scale (PRS), a survey instrument to measure organizational readiness for personas.…… Continue reading Is an organization ready for using personas?

Findings from a Series of User Studies Examining the Use of Fake Images and Videos

Our research group has conducted a series of user studies concerning the use of deepfake (i.e., AI generated) images and videos, focusing on how people perceive and react to these deepfakes in the context of personas. Findings from a series of user studies show that using artificial pictures in persona profiles did not decrease the…… Continue reading Findings from a Series of User Studies Examining the Use of Fake Images and Videos

Picturing the fictitious person: An exploratory study on the effect of images on user perceptions of AI-generated personas

The realness of fakes: Primary evidence of the effect of deepfake personas on user perceptions in a design task Led by Joni Salminen, this research explores user perceptions of AI-generated personas for textual content (GPT-4) and two image generation models (DALL-E and Midjourney). We evaluate whether the inclusion of images in AI-generated personas impacts user…… Continue reading Picturing the fictitious person: An exploratory study on the effect of images on user perceptions of AI-generated personas

Bridging Hard and Soft Logic: The Emergence of Data-Driven, Algorithmically-Created Personas

With user experience (UX) research and market analysis, the development of data-driven, algorithmically-created personas stands at the forefront, marking a significant leap in understanding diverse population segments. These algorithmically-created personas, crafted through a synergy of big data, machine learning (ML), and artificial intelligence (AI), are revolutionizing our approach to understanding audiences, customers, and users by…… Continue reading Bridging Hard and Soft Logic: The Emergence of Data-Driven, Algorithmically-Created Personas

The Need for Formal Standards for Persona Creation

Personas are invaluable tools in content creation that help creators and editors better understand their target audiences. In the business world, personas are valuable tools that help marketers and executives better understand their target customers. In the user experience (UX) design world, personas are invaluable tools that help designers and developers better understand their target…… Continue reading The Need for Formal Standards for Persona Creation

Designing With Multiple Personas in Mind: Multi-Persona Design for Large Target Populations

There is a need for personas usage to shift from focusing on one persona at a time to Multi-Persona Design. In the context of global design and development using personas, the traditional approach of utilizing a limited set of personas, often 10 or fewer, is a widely accepted guideline. This ‘small persona’ mindset assumes a…… Continue reading Designing With Multiple Personas in Mind: Multi-Persona Design for Large Target Populations

What Information to Include in a Persona Profile?

Algorithmically generated personas have emerged as quintessential tools for understanding audiences, customers, and users, bridging data analytics and human-centric experiences. These algorithmically-generated personas (APGs) are at the intersection of user experience research, marketing strategies, and product development, and APGs are realistically crafted identities that mirror the varied facets of a target audience, customer, or user…… Continue reading What Information to Include in a Persona Profile?

How Do Users Perceive Deepfake Personas? Investigating the Deepfake User Perception and Its Implications for Human-Computer Interaction

Although deepfakes have a negative connotation in human-computer interaction (HCI) due to their risks, they also involve many opportunities, such as communicating user needs in the form of a “living, talking” deepfake persona. To scope and better understand these opportunities, we present a qualitative analysis of 46 participants’ think-aloud transcripts based on interacting with deepfake…… Continue reading How Do Users Perceive Deepfake Personas? Investigating the Deepfake User Perception and Its Implications for Human-Computer Interaction

Leveraging Personas for Social Impact: A Review of Their Applications to Social Good in Design

Personas inform design by representing diverse user needs. Since their initial application in commercial technology contexts, personas have been adopted in several research domains for the public good, such as health, accessibility, politics, civic society, education, sustainability, cybersecurity, and criminology. In this review paper, we analyzed 58 research studies that created personas in these domains,…… Continue reading Leveraging Personas for Social Impact: A Review of Their Applications to Social Good in Design

StoryOptimizer – Leveraging AI for better cross platform social media content creation

If your organization does cross-platform posting (i.e., posts the same or similar content on multiple social media platforms). As part of our Acua system, we’ve developed a feature that takes a generic post and automatically optimizes it for 6 social media platforms. See below. We have already tested the feature in a 900-person user study,…… Continue reading StoryOptimizer – Leveraging AI for better cross platform social media content creation