Hi John, Instead of using focus groups, I use personas to get a clear view on the user goals. Constructing personas isn't about asking what users want. It is about trying to figure out their daily goals (anything from being happy to finish my todo list by the end of the day). I believe that as a designer I should always try to design in a way that enables users to accomplish these goals. Personally I prefer the goal directed design approach from Cooper. "Qualitative research helps us understand the domain, context, and constraints of a product in different, more useful ways than quantitative research does. It also helps us identify patterns of behavior among users and potential users of a product much more quickly and easily than would be possible with quantitative approaches."[1] The people from Cooper posted some articles on their journal[2], these might be helpful. I think The Persona Lifecycle[3] is a great first introduction with personas.
Gr. Erik van de Wiel 1: Book: About Face 3: The Essentials of Interaction Design -- Alan Cooper (quote: page 50) http://www.amazon.com/About-Face-Essentials-Interaction-Design/dp/0470084111/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1206699216&sr=8-1 <http://www.amazon.com/About-Face-Essentials-Interaction-Design/dp/0470084111/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1206699216&sr=8-1> 2: http://www.cooper.com/insights/journal_of_design/articles/personas/ 3: Book: The Persona Lifecycle http://www.amazon.com/Persona-Lifecycle-Throughout-Interactive-Technologies/dp/0125662513/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1206699232&sr=1-1 <http://www.amazon.com/Persona-Lifecycle-Throughout-Interactive-Technologies/dp/0125662513/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1206699232&sr=1-1> ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
