8 steps to using non-human personas in digital design

Damien Lutz
Bootcamp
Published in
15 min readMar 11, 2023

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Insights from interviews and experimentation from designers around the world are synthesised into practical steps for applying non-human and non-user personas in digital design

A Photo by Olena Sergienko on Unsplash of a forest from above, with the outline of a website layout overlayed on top
Background photo by Olena Sergienko on Unsplash

As discussed in my previous articles, more designers are using personas to represent non-humans (environments, animals, etc.) and non-users (factory workers, farmers, impacted communities, etc.) to consider their needs as well as those of their users.

Drawing from interviews, analysis, and experimentation of designers from Germany, UK, US, and Australia, I synthesised the learnings into this practical guide for digital designers to start experimenting.

As this guide was created from a small sample of case studies, it is therefore hypothetical in its entirety, so please share back your findings with the community via this Miro board, and be a part of evolving life-centred design.

Contents of this article

  • 8 steps to using non-human/non-user personas in digital design (includes examples to inspire)
  • Guiding principles
  • Challenges and limitations

8 steps to using non-human/non-user personas in digital design

This guide provides steps to assessing a design retrospectively for impacts on non-humans. Ideally, you want to use non-human personas throughout the design process, and you can also use parts of this guide for that approach.

The steps for assessing an existing design are as follows:

  1. Map the system
  2. Empathise
  3. Assess the system for impacts
  4. Brainstorm product/business innovations
  5. Refine and assess
  6. Explore unintended consequences
  7. Translate innovations into digital solutions
  8. Explore unintended consequences

This guide will assume you have identified a non-human/non-user and created its persona. If not, you can:

  • Download these personas to practice with — use a generalised non-human persona such ‘Nature’ as a starter as it will give you a wide lens to generate ideas, or try one of the more specific ones to challenge yourself
  • Identify a non-human/non-user from your product/business using Monika Snzel’s Actant Mapping Canvas, and then create the persona using the instructions in my previous article

For the examples in this guide, I’ll be using a Trees persona.

A persona for Trees
A persona for Trees

1. Map the system

Digital experiences don’t usually directly impact non-humans/non-users (unless they interact with your digital experience).

So you want to think about the system your digital product belongs to and how it impacts non-humans/non-users to brainstorm system innovations that you can then nurture with the digital experience.

Download this mapping sheet to explore the wider system that your digital product belongs to and how it impacts your non-human/non-user. It’s best to load it into Miro, Mural, etc. and use different colour sticky notes (see the Key).

The SYSTEM VIEW section is for mapping the wider system that your digital experience belongs to, and the LIFECYCLE VIEW section is for mapping the lifecycle of your non-human if it is a resource (eg. trees for paper, oil for plastic, etc.)

The Business System Map
The Business System Map

For UX designers experimenting on their own, the map is a tool to generate ideas and so you only need to fill in what you can (research and hypothesise), and to the detail you are comfortable with. Obviously, the more detailed you are, the more accurate and insightful it can be, so if you use this with the team and/or business you can be more detailed.

Map the system

1. Using the SYSTEM VIEW section, map the tools and tech and people and activities for the wider system. You might want to start with what you’re most familiar with (e.g. Products & Services) and work out from there.

  • Business 3rd parties — Web hosting, Internet providers, etc. supporting the business
  • Business — Business components supporting the products, services, and user experiences
  • Channels — Digital and physical stores/touch-points for users (list the channels at the top)
  • Products & Services — Products and services sold or enabled by the business (list the products at the top)
  • Users — Primary users/customers
  • User 3rd Parties — Communities connected to your users and product

Map the value generated

Now you can see the business system, brainstorm/research the value generated (for people, non-humans, and ecosystems) and note them on your map.

Example — mapping the system view of Future Scouting®
Example — mapping the system view of Future Scouting®

2. Empathise

Before assessing the system for how it impacts your non-human/non-user, empathise more deeply with them.

  • Immerse — Use a mediative approach to imagine being the persona and imagine the persona’s needs are your needs. Try Sandy Daehnert’s meditation to emphasise with Nature
  • For animals, you could role-play with friends as an animal to get familiar with non-verbal communication

An immersive approach is very powerful as you de-centre yourself and critique the design with less bias. You will still have some bias of course, but this immersive approach helps you think and feel more from the non-human/non-user’s perspective.

3. Assess the system for impacts

Returning to your system map, assess each aspect for how it might impact each of the non-human/non-user needs, challenges, etc.

Note on the map any positive and negative impacts.

  • Does human action at any part of the system directly or indirectly impact the non-human’s needs, challenges, etc.?
  • Do the extraction and processing of natural resources directly or indirectly impact the non-human needs?
  • Do the manufacturing, shipping, selling, using, and discarding of products directly or indirectly impact the non-human needs?
  • If your non-human is a resource, use the LIFECYCLE VIEW to consider the lifecycle of its use, from when it is extracted, processed, manufactured, shipped, sold, and used, to when the users finish with it and discard it. Where are the resources used, overused, spoiled, or wasted, and by whom?
  • Does the value generated by the system directly or indirectly impact the needs, challenges, etc.?

Example — As well as being cut down for paper for printing my books and tools, trees were impacted along the book lifecycle:

  • Extraction — Deforestation was caused by the mining of materials of electronics that my ebooks and digital tools relied on to be used
  • Processing and manufacturing — paper as a resource is spoiled during processing and manufacturing by the combination of chemicals, glue, and ink, and the factories can destroy ecosystems — Paper manufacturing is the third-largest user of fossil fuels worldwide
  • Sales — Around 10 million of the trees that are killed to create books die in vain each year, because the books end up getting destroyed instead of read
  • End of use — Unread and unrecycled books end up in a landfill, and their decomposition generates twice as much global warming emissions and toxic impacts on local water systems as does its manufacturing
Example-mapping the impacts of the system on the ‘Trees’ non-human
Example-mapping the impacts of the system on the ‘Trees’ non-human

Explore future and indirect consequences of these impacts using ‘compounding impact’ brainstorming tools such as the Ripple Canvas or Futures Wheel to brainstorm indirect consequences. Add any potential indirect impacts you identify to the System map.

4. Brainstorm product/business innovations

For each impact/problem identified, brainstorm solutions.

Remember, you are still thinking system-wide at this stage, brainstorming solutions of any kind, including potential digital strategies and those beyond your control or influence.

To brainstorm solutions, think in terms of these 4 innovation strategies:

  1. Remove damage — Replace the issue with a no-impact solution, or ask if your product/business even needs this part of the system
  2. Reduce damage — Improve the issue or replace the solution with a less impactful solution
  3. Restore damage — Restore the damage caused by the system
  4. Enrich health — Thinking beyond fixing damage, consider where you can use business resources/prosperity to nurture sources of food, etc. for the non-human/non-user, that aren’t impacted, but which you could keep healthy

‘Remove damage’ and ‘Enrich health’ are most important as they prevent and stop damage — if you can remove and enrich everything then you won’t need to reduce or restore.

To Remove, Reduce, Restore, and Enrich, consider these 5 approaches:

  1. Circular Design — Using more sustainable materials, ensuring products and materials get more than 1 life, etc.
  2. Sustainable Web Design — Reducing the energy used in digital experiences
  3. Behavioural design — Inform users, staff, the public, etc, to raise awareness, and nudge them to choose sustainable behaviours
  4. Datafy — How can the product/service/system capture data from the non-human/non-users to give them a voice? Or to measure the impact of your design changes? What existing or new tech in your product/service or the system could be used? Can you employ Animal Computer interaction technology like Screen and Tracking Systems, Haptic and Wearable Systems, Tangible and Physical Systems?
  5. Share value — Referring to the value identified on your map, consider how this can be used to help remove, restore, enrich, inform, or datafy
Life-centred design strategies & approaches
Life-centred design strategies & approaches

Example — I determined 6 possible innovations to support Trees:

  1. To REMOVE the waste of material due to discarded overprints, I could use ‘Print on demand’ only for printed books
  2. To REDUCE material use/extraction from trees, I could ensure all tools can be used digitally
  3. To RESTORE damage of trees cut down for paper, I could donate X% of sales of printed books to onetreeplanted.org
  4. To REDUCE material use/extraction from trees, I could find more eco-friendly printers
  5. To REDUCE material use/extraction from trees, I could INFORM users by providing instructions on how to pass books into circular loops when finished
  6. To REDUCE material use/extraction from trees, nudge users to use ebooks
Example — Mapping solutions to the impacts on the ‘Trees’ non-human
Example — Mapping solutions to the impacts on the ‘Trees’ non-human

Useful resources:

5. Refine and assess

Explore your innovations in more detail to tease out the unfeasible ideas, and define the best ones to focus on with digital.

Try the Non-human/non-user Digital Solutions tool to explore, refine and assess feasibility.

In the REFINE INNOVATIONS section, place each of your innovation ideas into a column.

Research and explore more detail to understand the feasibility of the business implementing or influencing them.

Decide which ideas you can take through to digital:

  • For feasible ideas that don’t require a business change or approval from someone else, and can be achieved just by working with UI and content designers and developers, you can directly support these in the digital experience
  • For ideas that require a business decision and are feasible for the business, you may still support these via digital
  • For ideas that require a business decision and are not feasible for the business, park these ideas for now

Example — After exploring my 5 innovations, I determined:

  • 1 was not very feasible (sourcing more eco-friendly printers)
  • 2 were feasible and could be supported in digital (use print on demand and donate to conservationist groups), but required business decisions
  • 1 was feasible and could be supported in digital (use print on demand and donate to conservationist groups), but required business decisions… but I was uncertain about the benefit of ebooks over physical… this is where the lack of knowledge and data shows as a weakness of personas
  • 2 could be directly supported in the digital experience (inform users on keeping books circular and ensure all tools are digital) and didn’t require business decisions
Example of the Non-human/non-user Digital Solutions tool being used to refine and assess innovations
Example of the Non-human/non-user Digital Solutions tool being used to refine and assess innovations

6. Explore unintended consequences

Due to the weaknesses of personas, such as lack of accuracy and/or completeness, well-intended designs can have unintended consequences.

Also, we should consider the long-term effects of innovations, such as:

  • What impacts will your product’s lifecycle have after it’s been running for a year, 2 yrs, or 10 yrs?
  • What impacts will your product’s lifecycle have if your user base scales up greatly?

Explore future and indirect consequences of your innovations using ‘compounding impact’ brainstorming tools such as:

Exploring unintended consequences with the Futures Wheel
Exploring unintended consequences with the Futures Wheel

Example — I placed my innovations on the Futures Wheel (and duplicated a few innovations to fill the spaces). I wasn’t certain about my innovation #6 (To REDUCE material use/extraction from trees, nudge users to use ebooks), whether driving users to use ebooks over print on demand was actually better, as print on demand has less waste than traditional publishing which prints mass amounts, some of which can end up unsold and in landfill. Using the Futures Wheel to think longer term, a drive toward only ebooks would increase the negative impacts of digital tech, such as CO2 emissions, over-mining for metals, etc. Without enough data, I chose to leave this innovation for now.

7. Translate innovations into digital solutions

Now you have innovations to support through digital, bring your thinking to the user experience level and define digital solutions to support the innovations.

Using the Non-human/non-user Digital Solutions tool, move the innovations down that you’ve decided you can support in digital into the DEFINE DIGITAL SOLUTIONS section.

Use these prompts to brainstorm digital solutions:

UX, UI

  • Allow filtering for planet-friendly options — Use filters to allow users to easily identify more planet-friendly options that impact you related non-human/non-user less, such as filtering locally-made, organic, and sustainable options
  • Use priority placement and visual hierarchy to make sustainable options easier to choose
  • Link to user behaviour/mindset change information — Provide links to helpful information related to your non-human/non-user to raise user awareness and nudge more sustainable behaviours
  • Link to promote supporters — Promote and integrate not-for-profit and environmental organisations related to your non-human/non-user to nurture awareness and behavioural change, such as integrating registration and donation forms and linking to community events
  • Use calm colours to help users slow down and make time for sustainable decision making

Content

  • Copy — Infuse web copy with reference to non-humans/non-users, ‘deepening the conversation and intent on the website’ and increasing user awareness
  • Copy — Give voice to the non-human/non-user in the digital journey and communications with first-person voice messages, thanking users for sustainable choices and giving feedback on any measurable impact users made
  • Calm messaging — Use calm colours and messaging (instead of time-based and urgent messaging such as ‘Buy now’ or ‘Low stock’) to help users slow down and make time for sustainable decision making
  • Provide digital versions of any printable downloads

User behaviour

  • Improve user awareness — What user awareness can be improved regarding the non-human/non-user and its needs?
  • Inform/nudge user behaviours — Use behavioural design to determine any user behaviours can be nudged, during the experience or beyond, such as donating, recycling, etc. to support the non-human/non-user and its needs
  • Use gamification — Can ethical gamification and feedback be utilised to nudge preferred user behaviours?

Data & Metrics

  • Reuse data differently — Can any existing data be used differently to connect the experience and user with the initiatives, or to encourage user behaviour change?
  • Expand data sets — Can any new data be sourced via the system (business 3rd parties, users, user 3rd parties, etc.) to help monitor the non-humans/non-users or user behaviour?
  • User collected/shared data — Can users share localised information regarding the non-human/non-user?
  • Data for metrics — What metrics can you use to monitor and measure the positive or negative impact on the non-user of your design decisions?

Accountability

  • How will you hold yourself accountable for these solutions? For example, posting commitments on the website and updating progress/metrics

Example — I brainstormed 5 ways to support Trees in the digital experience:

  • To REMOVE the waste of material due to discarded overprints, use ‘Print on demand’ only for printed books (As the owner of this business, I could make the business decision to go ahead with this innovation)
  • To REDUCE material use/extraction from trees, I will inform/nudge users by providing instructions for how to maintain, repair, reuse, and recycle books (Metrics: n/a, Accountability: post commitment and donations on site)
  • To RESTORE damage of trees cut down for paper, I will donate to https://onetreeplanted.org/ (Accountability: post commitment and donations on site)
  • Donating was a business decision, but it also generated the idea to encourage users to donate also, so I inform and nudge users with a promotional link to https://onetreeplanted.org/ (Metrics: track clicks)
  • To REDUCE material use/extraction from trees, I will provide digital versions of any printable downloads (Metrics: track clicks, Accountability: post commitment on site)

You can view some of these innovations here.

Example of the Non-human/non-user Digital Solutions tool being used to brainstorm digital solutions
Example of the Non-human/non-user Digital Solutions tool being used to brainstorm digital solutions

8. Explore unintended consequences

Again, you can explore the unintended consequences from a digital perspective, such as what impacts will your design changes have if digital user numbers scale up to millions.

Example — I briefly explored the idea of my user base scaling to ten million. One thing I was reminded of was whether any drive for digital to replace physical experiences is the negative impact of increased CO2 emissions and mining from the tech industry. One mitigation a digital designer could implement is to ensure all downloads are optimised (see Sustainable Web Design strategies).

Exploring unintended consequences of digital design decisions with the Futures Wheel
Exploring unintended consequences of digital design decisions with the Futures Wheel

Iterate your ideas as needed.

Then continue as per Human Centred Design — designing, testing, and iterating for launch and post-launch monitoring.

Guiding principles

  • Be data-based and wary of stereotyping and bias — Stay vigilant against the accidental embedding of stereotypes and your own bias into non-human needs and experiences — use verified data and challenge your initial hypotheses
  • Expect trade-offs — Just as there are trade-offs between the user and business needs, there will also be trade-offs between life-centred thinking and human-centred thinking as the world transitions to a less human-centred paradigm
  • Allow new key non-humans/non-users to emerge organically throughout the process
  • Ensure the personas are updated and grow over time, as the designer and business learn more about the non-humans/non-users
  • Use personas to influence by sharing them with the team and business and including them in their creation — try multi-media formats such as audio and video files for engaging stakeholders and the public
  • Constantly explore ways to test the impact of design decisions that were made for the benefit of non-humans/non-users — how can we use the metrics, and how can we get feedback from the non-humans/non-users?
  • Practice by using non-human/non-user personas retrospectively to assess existing designs, then embed the personas in your process, using them as BAU as often as you do human personas

Challenges and limitations

  • The more generalised the persona (e.g. Nature, The Earth, etc.) the more innovative ideas will be generated, but many will be at the system-level that will need to be approved by the business, limiting the digital designer’s influence
  • Non-human/non-user personas can have the same limitations as human personas, such as lack of accuracy and completeness, being made with biased images and content and harmful stereotyping, generalisation leaving out the marginalised, and not being updated or referred to often (weakening empathy) — and these can cause unintended rebound effects
  • Effects may take a long time to measure — Designing to improve the needs of non-humans/non-users may take a long time to take effect, such as how long new trees and regeneration projects may take to show any positive impact

But there’s no reason why any designer in any role can’t asses their work from a non-human/non-user perspective and share back any insights with decision-makers.

Help shape life-centred design!

Be a part of evolving life-centred design by sharing your feedback from using this process. The more we share, the more we can learn from each other.

If you use this Guide, tools, or its insight for your own courses, workshops, books, articles, etc, please credit and link back to this article.

The tools:

Learn everything about non-human personas with the guidebook and toolkit

More from Damien…

Explore Damien’s two design innovation labs:

  • Life-centred Design Lab — expanding human-centred design to include nature and invisible communities
  • Future Scouting — Designing life-centred, values-driven future tech products with speculative design

Get practical with tools and courses:

Follow Damien on Medium for more fringe design thinking and experiments.

Special thanks to Sandy Daehnert, Fiona Tout, Ben Serbutt, Victor Udoewa, and Martin Tomitsch whose practical insights informed this guide.

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Damien Lutz
Damien Lutz

Written by Damien Lutz

Visual articles exploring fringe design practices and experiments to develop ways of designing more life-centred futures.

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