Diverse personas
A research initiative for diversity in UX Personas
About
Started in 2023 by Marie Kuter, a UX Consultant in Geneva (Switzerland), the Diverse Personas study focuses on avatars selected by designers and business analysts to illustrate personas.
Objectives
Identify standard practices in personas avatars
Identify potential biases in personas avatars
Start the conversation around potentially identified biases
Brainstorm around best practices to avoid biases in personas avatars
Create and advocate for best practices to avoid biases in design personas
Process
Collect a representative sample of personas (current goal set at 385)
Identify standard practices regarding the selection of avatars
Analyze comparisons around 4 types of biases: gender, skin color, handicap and age
Brainstorm workarounds to avoid or limit idenified biases
Communicate results after 2, 3 and 4
May 2023
start of the project
211
personas collected so far
43
complete projects analyzed
A bit of context
What are personas?
Personas are fictional characters used in design to represent users and ensure a user-centric approach throughout a project. They traditionnally feature information like name, age, avatar, pain-points, expectations, etc.
Why focus on persona avatars?
Avatars are a major element of personas representation: as they are visual they tend to attract attention, and they often occupy a lot of space on the persona format. They are a visual way to convey emotion and allow to build empathy with the users they represent.
Though, selecting one single avatar to represent a large audience of users presents many challenges and can induce biases. If a persona is represented with a realistic picture of a European man in his 40's, how can designers keep in mind to also design for an Asian woman in her 70's?
Methodology
How might we facilitate inclusive design by reducing the risk of biases induced by the selection of one single avatar to represent a persona?
1
Do selected persona avatars actually reflect biases (in 4 categories: gender, age, skin color, handicap)?
2
Does the choice of persona avatars limit inclusive design?
3
If 1 and 2 are true, then what could be done to avoid or limit these biases and ensure inclusive design (if any)?
How can I help?
1
Submit your personas through the form
2
Share this link with your network
3
Contact me if you want to be part of the initiative!
About me
Marie Kuter is a senior UX Consultant based in Geneva (Switzerland.)