Personas for Lost Pet App?

Hi

I am working on new UX design project - a lost pet finder. Do you see any strong benefit to include personas in the development process for this application?

Are not the needs going to be very similar? The only reason I can think of to do it is maybe because of different age groups and their needs around digital interfaces

Steve

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hmm, good point, age could be an issue. you could do a few interviews with people from various backgrounds, ages and if it looks like there are differences, then you might want to go ahead and do some… I actually like doing personas (LOL… it’s making up stories about people and I love that.) You might learn some things about the user flow from personas…

I agree that age could be an issue, also consider different types of pets (recently saw an advert for a lost tortoise - would this person be different to someone with a lost dog?)

Are dog and cat people different? :slight_smile:

What about people who drive and people who don’t? Would they search for a pet differently?

Locations of people may also make a difference, someone living in the countryside may respond differently to someone in the city?

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I imagine you might have 2 user types, those who’ve lost a pet and those who’ve found one.

Also is it internatinal? Are there cultural differences?

Are minor’s allowed to use the app and therefore have certain privacy and protection requirements?

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Thanks for the feedback everyone. Many apps of this type have a “community” feature whereby if you have the app and happen to be in the vicinity of a lost pet you and the owner are notified but I don’t plan on incorporating that feature…so it’s only for the pet owners.

Making an app that is both child friendly and effective feels like it is going to be a huge challenge but I have some ideas since yesterday so I probably will go ahead and do a a few personas.

Thanks again everyone for helping me think it through!

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An update for anyone interested. I am moving forward in the process of developing “Find My Lost Pet” and have created an initial survey to validate some of my feature and use case assumptions.

If you would like to participate the only requirement is that you are now or have been a pet owner or the primary caretaker of a pet. Here’s a link if you decide to give it a go and I hope you find it interesting.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/8CSVKQH

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I have enough responses for now, thank you everyone for participating!!!

Steve