Keeping the User and User Data in Mind : A Study on Empathy and Personas

Abstract: One method to create and work with personas is to abstract the user data into a character with a background story and a set of goals. This method has been argued against as the method is argued to lead to, for example, stereotyping users and for not exposing User Experience (UX) designers to user data. User data has been argued to be used by UX designers to make design decision. This study examines the possibility for UX designers to empathize with a persona that have additional accessible representations of user data. The results from this study imply that it is possible for UX designers to empathize with a persona while having access to representations of user data. Additionally, the results indicate that the persona design methods used in this study need further development.