My Persona

Demographics: I am a 21-year-old female college student. I am in the business school and I have a part time job on campus working in the Liberal Arts deans’ office. I have worked there since I was a freshman though I took last semester off to do a part time internship at a public affairs firm. I recently completed an internship doing marketing at a technology corporation. I was born and raised in central Texas and enjoy the “Texas lifestyle” very much. I have spent a summer abroad in Paris and a summer in Seattle during which I wanted to discover whether I could enjoy living in places outside of Texas. I grew up in a rural town from which not a lot of people went to college. I will be graduating successfully in four years and am in the process of applying for and deciding on full-time opportunities. I am an only child and come from a middle class income family with parents who both have college degrees. My father was in the military before college and my mother lost her job when the economy went down. Our household has obviously suffered due to the loss of income and we have had to adjust our lifestyle.

Lifestyle: My life is one major juggling act. I mentioned I am a student with a part-time job, but I am also involved heavily in an organization on campus called the Undergraduate Business Council. We are the representative body of the business school. Throughout the year I participate on several committees planning events for the organization and the business school as a whole. On top of that we have weekly meetings and are encouraged to attend most of our events. There is also the social factor that must be maintained. As a business student you learn very young the importance of networking and building relationships to your future. In addition to my responsibilities, I consider myself an extremely social person. My roommates comment all the time on my constantly having plans while wondering how I manage it all. My social life drives my ability to keep going with everything else. Because it is so rewarding to be around friends I am able to stay focused when I need to be rather than punishing myself by not going out because I have burdened myself with responsibilities. I live with three female roommates in a four bedroom four bathroom apartment that most would probably consider luxury. I find myself very lucky and appreciative to have parents that can help me pay for college and living expenses. I am very fortunate to be able to focus on all of my commitments including my grades rather than affording college. My diet is absolutely horrible. I eat out entirely too much for a college budget and when I eat at home it tends to be more of snacking than a full meal and my roommates tend to eat similarly though they eat out even more than I do. One of my roommates is not a student she works full time as a kindergarten teacher and graduated in May. None of my roommates are business students, which is a major relief to me because I already spend so much time with business students and the pressure is intense. If I had to come home to the pressure and constant career talk I would be miserable. We watch a lot of reality television and Glee while all talking on the couch. It would be rare to see someone in the living room without a laptop open and their cell phone right next to them. We “multitask” by talking, watching tv, doing homework, social networking and eating. Last night we discussed whether that meant our brain capacity was increasing because of our ability and almost need to do so much at once or if it just meant we were doing everything terribly. I don’t work out much but all of my roommates try to keep a regiment of running and other cardio. We don’t have a dog but we really want one and we like to dog sit as much as possible to have a loving pet around.

Personality: It will all work itself out is what I try to remind myself every day. I tend to try to make things happen the way I want them, but it’s usually better when things work out on their own. I love to shop at trendy low cost stores, but plan to shop at more mature stores when I graduate. I love love love to travel and meet new people. I have a strange obsession with other cultures and would really love to someday live in another place for a long enough time to be adapted to another culture. I would also, really love to learn another language or two although I’m not sure when I’ll ever make the time for that. Dancing and country music are my passion and when the two come together I happen to be one of the happiest girls around! Reading is one of my main past times. I tend to read historical fiction, escapist literature or comedic memoirs. I stay up too late and get up too early all furthering my procrastination cycle.

Impact of Design

Human centered design is really interesting to me because as companies are discovering the importance of design they are becoming more successful. I happen to be a firm believer in giving the customer what they want and not deciding for them. I found it surprising that it took so long for these philosophies to develop. In class, Jeff Mulhausen referenced the craft stage and it amazed me that crafters created what they wanted and customers bought it without considering comfort or ease for the consumer. Expectations from the consumer have become so vast over the last 100 years. They now receive almost complete transparent access to information about products and expect the best product with the least amount of effort. Henry Dreyfus said, “If people are made safer, more comfortable, more eager to purchase, more efficient or just happier, the designer has succeeded.” His influence was so pervasive that we still use his products 70 years later despite the drastic changes in technology. His efforts changed the design business with one quote that seems to be quite obvious to me. Unfortunately, there are still many companies who do not invest in design as part of their marketing techniques and they may survive for a while because they provide what the consumer is used to but eventually a competitor will come along and provide a design centered option to draw customers away.

Technology is a major space where design and engineering are at a constant battle. The engineers pull for features and capabilities while the designers are concerned with being unobtrusive, aesthetic, useful and self-explanatory according to Deiter Rams’ philosophy. For a long time technology was like the craft age where the companies told consumers what to use. The best option was dictated to us because we weren’t knowledgeable enough about the industry to make demands. Now that Generation Y is coming of age and have had access to technology all of their lives they can make educated demands of the product. Rising products for the younger generation are obviously design focused. Google has mastered the online technology world in design. It may seem obvious, but it is important because there are other companies who don’t see the importance of design. Google utilizes almost all of the principles of design of the philosophy started by Deiter Rams from being innovative to unobtrusive to having as little design as possible. They have managed to be the first in online applications and because of their careful human centered design have not met very strong competition. The only lacking principle is honesty. I don’t think it is well known how much information consumers are giving to Google when using their free applications. It makes sense that users should pay in some way for the products, but sacrificing privacy can be a major price. Luckily for Google, once the consumer does discover the reason behind the creepy advertising that happens to go with the content of their emails they have already become so attached to the product they don’t seem to care. They also have developed for Jeff’s philosophy of design. My personal favorite is the system. If you have the email you will use the chat and if you become attached to the chat you are likely to adopt the calendar and docs. Once the consumer is integrated fully into the system it will be very difficult to get them to stray because it is one easy synchronized system that can be accessed in one place with one password. It is made for the masses and not just the tech savvy while empowering the user. Google seems to be fully invested in design when producing and marketing products to their consumers.