Personas in user-centered design of university websites
Sidorko, Nadezhda (2019)
2019
Tietojenkäsittelytieteiden tutkinto-ohjelma - Degree Programme in Computer Sciences
Informaatioteknologian ja viestinnän tiedekunta - Faculty of Information Technology and Communication Sciences
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Hyväksymispäivämäärä
2019-01-15
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-201905201794
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-201905201794
Tiivistelmä
This thesis is focused on multicultural user personas as a method to design university websites with the user in mind. The relevance of the topic is stressed by the launch of Tampere3, Tampere higher education community which makes for a merger between the University of Tampere, Tampere University of Technology and Tampere University of Applied Sciences. The accent on cultural components in student persona descriptions is derived from the importance of intercultural competence. Since university websites are significant in promoting studying abroad to students, the way the website introduces its study options is crucial.
The thesis is an exploratory qualitative study. Both Finnish and international students were engaged into focus groups for Tampere3 website user personas creation. As a result, I learnt what the personas should be to reflect various students’ needs, goals, motivations and frustrations. Generally, there is no contradiction between Finnish and international students as users of the university website. In final persona descriptions their cultural backgrounds were not attributed more importance than their academic status. Besides, I was interested if the personas could be approved by developers’ team in the process of designing of Tampere3 website. An interview and a questionnaire were used as developers’ feedback collection instruments. The findings show that applying personas could have changed at least the process, if not the results of the team’s work. Although the team considered the method at the beginning and created personas, these intentions were not enough to make them work. Personas were not rejected deliberately, but the motivation to use them was not enough to adhere to the method throughout the project.
Few conclusions can be drawn with the findings: apparently, a project team needs to have more resources (time, efforts, motivation) to make use of personas as compared to dozens of other methods. However, it neither disproves personas’ effectiveness when they are applied properly nor means that other methods yield better results. The lack of motivation to use the method took place because focusing on the users was not the main priority the team had. The methods the team chose corresponded to their possibilities to invest into the user experience.
The thesis is an exploratory qualitative study. Both Finnish and international students were engaged into focus groups for Tampere3 website user personas creation. As a result, I learnt what the personas should be to reflect various students’ needs, goals, motivations and frustrations. Generally, there is no contradiction between Finnish and international students as users of the university website. In final persona descriptions their cultural backgrounds were not attributed more importance than their academic status. Besides, I was interested if the personas could be approved by developers’ team in the process of designing of Tampere3 website. An interview and a questionnaire were used as developers’ feedback collection instruments. The findings show that applying personas could have changed at least the process, if not the results of the team’s work. Although the team considered the method at the beginning and created personas, these intentions were not enough to make them work. Personas were not rejected deliberately, but the motivation to use them was not enough to adhere to the method throughout the project.
Few conclusions can be drawn with the findings: apparently, a project team needs to have more resources (time, efforts, motivation) to make use of personas as compared to dozens of other methods. However, it neither disproves personas’ effectiveness when they are applied properly nor means that other methods yield better results. The lack of motivation to use the method took place because focusing on the users was not the main priority the team had. The methods the team chose corresponded to their possibilities to invest into the user experience.