- Week 10 -
Personas, Storytelling & Prototyping
What stood out to me from the readings on personas and research synthesis is how much they are less about documentation and more about alignment. Personas aren’t valuable because they’re detailed profiles, but because they give a team a shared mental model of who they’re designing for. I’ve felt the difference between working with personas and without them: decision-making becomes clearer, discussions are more focused, and design choices are easier to justify because they’re anchored in someone concrete rather than abstract “users.”
I also connected strongly with the emphasis on synthesis as a thinking process. Methods like affinity mapping aren’t just organizational tools; they’re a way to slow down and actually listen to what the research is saying. Seeing patterns emerge visually helps turn scattered observations into something actionable, especially when trying to identify real pain points instead of assumptions. From there, tools like scenarios, POV statements, and “How Might We” questions feel less like formal steps and more like natural transitions, from understanding people, to framing the right problem, to opening space for exploration without jumping too quickly to solutions.
Readings:
- Dam & Siang, Personas
- Methods to Help You Define, Synthesise And Make Sense in Your Research
Videos:
- Mike Pell, Director of Microsoft Garage, on Envisioneering & Prototyping (NYU Stream, Zoom Recording)
- Our last lecture on Storytelling & Showcasing (slides here) (NYU Stream, Zoom Recording).