Idean was asked to create personas of the Sitra.fi web page as part of the web page redesigning project. In the beginning of the project I tried to get to know as much as possible about Sitra by surfing the web page and reading about ongoing programs. I quickly learned that there is a wide audience visiting the Sitra.fi pages. To me as an outsider it felt difficult to grasp who the actual users of the page actually are. This problem is exactly the reason why personas are created.
The designers of the new Sitra.fi web page are facing the same mystery as I did: who are they designing the web page for, what are the users looking for on the page and what kind of web pages do they prefer? Personas are imaginary descriptions of the real users. Personas are created to support the design and they should present the real users and their objectives on the web page.
A qualitative research was conducted in order to base the personas on real facts. The visitors of the Sitra.fi page were asked to fill an online questionnaire. A total of 115 users answered the questions about backgrounds, objectives on the Sitra.fi page and wishes related to it. The questionnaire also validated the strategy of the Sitra.fi redesign.
Sitra had prepared excellent example personas based on their experiences of the real users. The example personas turned out to resemble the final personas very well and they were of great value when creating the questionnaire. I warmly recommend that the person who knows the most about the users writes down a best guess of the personas. In this way there is a good hypothesis to test when creating the final personas.
When analyzing the results of the questionnaire I first identified thirteen user groups. The persons visiting Sitra.fi are: program partners, job seekers, Sitra experts, first timers trying to learn about Sitra, persons generally interested in the topics of the programs, entrepreneurs looking for opportunities, press, researchers, foreigners interested in Finland, professionals of the public sector looking for information, students, persons responsible for the Sitra communication and persons who need some specific information for their job.
The seven personas presented in this blog are the result of combining and prioritizing these user groups. These personas describe the current visitors of Sitra.fi. The most important personas to consider when redesigning the web page are:
· Markus, CEO
Markus has a trong bond to Sitra and he is probably one of the first ones to comment and discuss on the page.
· Heidi, research assistant
The web page should give first timers a clear picture of Sitra and attract them to read more as well as motivate them to return to the page.
· Jukka, Sitra expert
Sitra experts need to take an active role in the discussions to keep the interaction on the page alive. Thus their needs need to be taken into account.
The other four personas should not be forgotten even if they represent smaller user groups. Tuula stands for those users who need information that Sitra publishes but who are not convinced about Sitra. John represents the foreign point of view. Erik can seem similar to Markus but he is more active and looking for some visibility. Riitta is responsible for the public image of Sitra and she is hoping for more possibilities and simplicity in her job.
The personas are foremost created for the web page redesign project but they can with favor be used to support communication and marketing later on. There is a guide that gives some ideas about how the personas can be utilized in practice. I hope that the persons who answered the questionnaire have time to get familiar with the created personas and comment on them. In that way the personas come alive and we will get some feedback about the personas.
I have enjoyed working on the project as I have a feeling that Sitra really wants to keep the research findings in mind and make sure the feedback from the users is taken into account. I will eagerly wait for feedback from the users and Sitra about the new Sitra.fi web page.
