Extended Abstract: When Is Persona Design Accountable?

Recently, there has been reason to question whether persona research in industry actually meets the ultimate standard of accountability-i.e., providing actionable results. In this session, the speaker will reflect critically on four cases where teams created personas for actual clients (Blue Cross & Blue Shield of South Carolina, the Clemson-Area Bosom Buddies Breast Cancer Support Group, the CAAH Web Design Team, and the Communications Director for the School of Architecture). Two of these projects led to extremely successful results; two of them did not. In this interactive session, the audience participants will examine the potential causes of these outcomes and enumerate the causes.