Information design proposal user groups
For your written assignment you're to continue developing your project proposal. This week you're to define
your user groups, interview sample users, and write a short (1-page) user requirements document, all to be
submitted with your proposal as a deliverable. Everything submitted should be based on the requirements
outlined in Lecture 2.
The aim is to define at least two or three user groups and attributes for each group. Who will be using your site
or application and why? You should include primary goals, group role, demographics, and experience. For
example, if you have a medical site, one group may be patients and the other may be doctors. How would
group roles differ? Patients may be seeking advice, doctors may be looking to publish new research.
You should use your groups to select one or two people to interview. Your interviewees can be a friend, family
member, colleague, etc. The goal is that they somewhat resemble a member of a particular user group. For
your interview you should find out, as Spencer writes:
What do they know about the topic?
What information do they need?
What technology do they already use to find this information
How will they use it?
How would they structure the information you're dealing with?
From your findings you should be able write a short requirements document. Requirements are absolute needs
for your site based on what you discover from interviews. If you're building a medical site, you may discover
that the information most important to your users is how to diagnose a symptom. If so, then this should be a
requirement of your project. Or, you may discover that doctors use your site to find names of pharmacists. If
that's the case, then a directory of pharmacies will be important. Each section (user group definition and
attributes, user interview questions, and user requirements) should be no more than a page.
For your written assignment you're to continue developing your project proposal. This week you're to define
your user groups, interview sample users, and write a short (1-page) user requirements document, all to be
submitted with your proposal as a deliverable. Everything submitted should be based on the requirements
outlined in Lecture 2.
The aim is to define at least two or three user groups and attributes for each group. Who will be using your site
or application and why? You should include primary goals, group role, demographics, and experience. For
example, if you have a medical site, one group may be patients and the other may be doctors. How would
group roles differ? Patients may be seeking advice, doctors may be looking to publish new research.
You should use your groups to select one or two people to interview. Your interviewees can be a friend, family
member, colleague, etc. The goal is that they somewhat resemble a member of a particular user group. For
your interview you should find out, as Spencer writes:
What do they know about the topic?
What information do they need?
What technology do they already use to find this information
How will they use it?
How would they structure the information you're dealing with?
From your findings you should be able write a short requirements document. Requirements are absolute needs
for your site based on what you discover from interviews. If you're building a medical site, you may discover
that the information most important to your users is how to diagnose a symptom. If so, then this should be a
requirement of your project. Or, you may discover that doctors use your site to find names of pharmacists. If
that's the case, then a directory of pharmacies will be important. Each section (user group definition and
attributes, user interview questions, and user requirements) should be no more than a page.