Design Ethanography and User Personas

Erika Hall argues for the value of design ethnography or understanding the entire complexity of users to establish good design. By not directly asking users directly for what challenges they face, not making assumptions about users, and understanding the greater picture of the user’s experience, a designer is able to develop solutions that meet the greater needs of a client. One of her largest battles in her writing is the design of the typical job interview. By conducting an interview focusing on open-ended questions, the interviewer truly accounts for the skills and abilities of workers, rather than making assumptions and shutting down the conversation. In her other article, she focuses on both the dangers and strengths of fully understanding user persona when creating good design. Personas serve as a model for designers to develop around and consider the target problems and constraints around a fictional user. Issues arise when they are used to ignore edge-case clients or as marketing targets instead of design targets. Developing multiple personas and avoiding stereotypes serves to avoid risks in using this kind of model.