What if your user base is everyone?
Designers everywhere: We can’t design for everyone.
Designer over here: But what if my product really is for everyone?
You may think that is hyperbole up there, but there are many of us that design complex, multi-modal enterprise systems. But, to be fair, that user base isn’t everyone. Just anyone who may need to get paid from our HR system, or check their bank balance, or file a claim with their insurance.
I had a recent conversation that went something like this:
Friend in Healthcare Insurance UX: I’ve given up on understanding my users. We keep trying to narrow down who our user is, but nothing makes sense. Even if I were to say they all live in a certain region, what difference does that make? Someone could move to our area tomorrow and not have any of the shared interest or needs. What’s the point?
Me: Well…I’ve thought a lot about this…
Wait! Let me backtrack a little.
Those of you who know me know I come from healthcare. Mental health care, public health, environmental health, health systems, women’s health. I’ve worked on all these sectors. And so, yes. I have thought a lot about this.
Ok back to the story.
Me: Personas are about giving your design some constraints. So if you can’t build a simple persona for your user you have to identify your constraints in some other manner.
I wasn’t nearly that eloquent. But I get to edit my own words.
All we do as designers, as researchers, are to help solidify some of the inherent constraints in what we’re making. If your system is meant for everyone over the age of 18 with access to a computer and wants relevant health information, a persona isn’t going to help you.
Here are some other ways you can identify your own constraints:
- The Scientific Method: Hypothesis — Test — Refined Hypothesis
- Start with Data: Beyond the market analysis
- Assumption-based Planning: Identifying implicit assumptions first
- Empathize Anyway: Using empathy as a constraint
The Scientific Method: Hypothesis — Test — Refined Hypothesis
Someone way more eloquent than I (Micah Sivitz) has written about this very topic. You should read it!
But it boils down to this: Turn a question (“Why is no one using our mobile app for insurance information?”) into a hypothesis (“Our users don’t want to access sensitive information over their phone.”). Then develop a way to test this hypothesis. In this case, you may interview a few users who have the mobile app but do not access their insurance information there. Or build a low-fidelity prototype that pushes the boundary of comfort.
Start with Data: Beyond the market analysis
No, I don’t mean stare at that dashboard until you have a eureka moment. I’m referring to something that is sometimes called Contextual Analytics or Observational Analytics. Which is just a fancy way of saying identify the why behind the numbers and solve for that.
Bartosz gives a great example of using data to hone in on a potential problem to solve, but only using the data to identify what needs a solution, not how to solve the problem.
Assumption-based Planning: Identifying implicit assumptions first
The step-by-step of this method is very similar to the scientific method, but goes a bit further to identify the implicit and explicit assumptions. You should take the time to identify the implicit assumptions of a product that your explicit assumptions are most likely relying on.
For example:
An explicit assumption could be Users prefer to call us when they have questions instead of using the knowledge base.
The implicit assumptions behind that are:
- Users find the knowledge base useful.
- Users know where to go for help when they have questions.
- Users don’t have any questions that are not answered by our knowledge base.
Once the implicit assumptions are listed out, it is usually clear that the designer may need to delve deeper into a problem before knowing where to focus. If #1 and #2 are true, but #3 is false, than you can develop a test that identifies where the breakdown is happening.
Empathize Anyway: Using empathy as a constraint
I couldn’t get through writing a post about design without at least mentioning empathy. We designers use it a lot to build ourselves up into user advocates, but how do we use empathy to help us identify what it is to focus on?
A persona is not just about constraints, it is about putting a name and a face to the problem at hand. So if you can’t put together a persona, why not actually go visit some people with real names and real faces?
Me: I’d go to a specialist’s office and ask to sit in the waiting room. I’d talk to people who were waiting. Patients, their caretakers, the receptionist. I wouldn’t ask questions, just talk. Observe. Feel something. Don’t give up.
