Not long ago my father and I happened to be talking about apps and how they have increasingly become more helpful to people in all walks of life. He used the example of how he was trying to find a good app to tell him about tides, but he was a bit frustrated by the one he had. I sort of thought this was funny since they are not the types of apps I would expect him to care too much about. But then I began to think about it and I changed my mind.
From my perspective, a tide app is handy for fishing, boating and going to the ocean. All things I enjoy. From my father’s perspective a tide app is very important since he works in heavy construction. He is presently refurbishing a bridge that spans the Harlem River. Knowing the tides is very helpful to him in planning the work.
Thinking further about it, I have come to realize that knowing the tides is also helpful to boaters, marine contractors, biologists, fishermen, the Navy, Cruise operators, the shipping industry, surfers and to some many more. A mobile app to tell about the tides, I would imagine would be indispensable to many people.
I called my father to find out the tide app. It is called New York Tides. In looking at it, I understand what my father’s complaints are. It is difficult to operate, difficult to find locations and it does not have tide charts. Although I could not find any reviews, good or bad on the app I decided based on my father’s opinion that this would be a good app to redesign.
For my persona profiles I kept my father in mind. He was easy to interview and I felt I had a clear understanding of just one type of user for a tide app. I used the article from Usabilty. Gov as an outline in laying out my persona profiles.
http://www.usability.gov/how-to-and-tools/methods/personas.html
http://www.usability.gov/how-to-and-tools/methods/personas.html
I also used the formula or “recipe” from the UX Lady in the DIY User Persona article.
From the readings I understand how creating a persona is helpful in the design process. I have visualized the posters hanging on a wall-helping with the creative process. With this in mind I thought that for my posters I would want something clean and easy to see. Once reading the profile a few times I believe the designers will be able to associate the persona just by the photograph, therefore in my design I will have the photograph fairly prominent.
Inspiration For My User Personas:
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