Elevating Our organization needed a boost to user empathy levels. Casual interviews with team members revealed a disconnect with our field-agents and system operators. We needed more compassion for, and understanding of, the people who use our software.
To help our team stay connected to the real people using our products, I wanted a clearer, more visible way to keep their needs front and center. I had already created detailed personas for our Probation Officers, Lab Technicians, Magistrate and Courts Judges and shared them through Confluence, Teams, and email, but they weren't getting enough attention to truly impact day-to-day work.
The "Persona Poster Project"
I started turning our digital personas into easy-to-read large-format prints with some help from my friends in our internal print shop. I framed and placed 20 Persona Posters around our workspace in areas where teams associate, innovate, and collaborate. This made our users a regular part of the environment, not just documents tucked away online.
The project was overwhelmingly received by leadership for being innovative and creative, and quickly sparked more conversations, awareness, and empathy for our end-users during planning, design reviews, and product development. No begging for forgiveness was needed to replace a few "Success" and "Teamwork" posters in our spaces.
