[Sigia-l] photos on personas?

[Andrew Boyd]

On 3/27/07, Eric Scheid <eric.scheid at ironclad.net.au> wrote:
> If personas are called for in a project, what sort of photo do you use to
> illustrate them, if at all? Headshots only, or in-context scenes (eg. their
> cubical)? Do you always make them happy smiley people, or do you throw in
> the occasional serious looking (grumpy?) individual?
>
> Are their contexts or situations where you do things a bit different? Well,
> of course there are since "it depends" is our motto ... what are those
> different contexts, and do you have any guesses as to why the other way
> worked bettern then?

Hi Eric,

smiling people are easier to sell - and if you are selling people a
picture of themselves, it is easier to sell a smiling one :)

It does depend - a "disgruntled client" persona would not be smiling,
nor would "relative of the deceased".

Working in government we deliberately look for a gender/cultural
background balance that suits the equal opportunity policy balance.
That said, generally they are smiling head/shoulders or neck upwards.

In Defence I didn't use photos at all in personas - the culture didn't
really support them at the time.

Best regards, Andrew