Homework – User research, persona, and user journey

Better understand the situation of the target group defined in homework 1. Conduct at least one short interview (or, if that is not possible, an observation or a questionnaire); if you run an interview, ask about past behavior and concrete experiences, not about whether people like your idea. Organize the result of the research in FigJam, and at the end summarize it in the form of a persona and a user journey.

Deliverables

• a shareable FigJam link;
• a one-page research plan: what design decision needs knowledge, research questions, method, description of the participant, data handling;
• a summary of the interview (or questionnaire/observation): the anonymized, relevant background of the subject, the questions, the important answers, and the lessons drawn;
• raw notes grouped (affinity map), marked as to which is a quote, observation, and interpretation;
• at least two insights that influence the design, in the "observation → interpretation → design consequence" structure;
• one research-based persona that describes the situation, goal, knowledge, constraint, and risk from the point of view of the task;
• a simple user journey map of one specific task: steps, feelings, pain points, and improvement opportunities.

Evaluation criteria

• The research question is open, non-leading, and tied to a design decision.
• In the notes, the quote, the observation, and the interpretation are separated.
• The insight is built on evidence, not mere wishes.
• The persona follows from the research, you did not make it up; where it is an assumption, it is marked.
• The journey follows a single, well-delimited task.
• There is no personal or sensitive data in the research notes.