Personas

Coffee Shop Personas

If you walk into a local coffee shop today and see computer users, what operating system are they running on their laptops? Most likely not Fedora. What if we wanted to change that?

Let's think about the types of people who frequent a coffee shop with a computer:

General User Characteristics

Motivation

Why do people compute at coffee shops?

• fewer distractions at the coffee shop than at home - focus - work or study
• meet friends there - social setting - feel connected to community
• coffee and light snacks are cheap admission
• coffee is enjoyable
• wifi access while out & about
• get out of the house / don't have an office (telecommuter, consultant, unemployed)
• comfortable surroundings / creative atmosphere / nice decor / amenities (fireplace, artwork, music, good smells, stylish, comfortable chairs)
• employees know you, friendly service
• traveller (at airport, inbetween hotels, at a conference, etc.- less lonely than hotel, a place to go, place to charge your stuff)
• service - don't have to clean up after yourself

User Classification

Who uses a computer at a coffee shop?

• consultants / telecommuters
• students
• travellers
• the unemployed

References

These are some references online used to gather the information above:

• http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070711085221AALUvcl
• http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AlM_biMTW6KHQgzJCfgMcf8jzKIX;_ylv=3?qid=20070525061801AAt9QvR
• http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124950421033208823.html
• http://technologizer.com/2009/08/06/coffee-shops-laptops/
• http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=3720
• http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2009/aug/11/coffee-shops-laptops-free-wi-fi

Personas

Let's build two personas to represent typical coffee shop users and review them in detail. Should we want Fedora to be the choice of coffee shop goers, these personas will provide us some hints on what types of features and functionality are important to those users.