Customer & User Personas
Recognizing that HIKEO will cater to a wide range of individuals, we developed the following three personas to represent our intended audience groups. The core focus when designing HIKEO will be the BAILEYs in the world, our main intended audience for the HIKEO experience. Our secondary personas, the JULIAs & LOUISs, represent our import, but secondary, audiences that we intend HIKEO to also serve. Each one of these user personas were carefully crafted to help drive and narrow all our design choices for in development of the HIKEO application.
Bailey, our intermediate hiker persona, is our core focus when developing HIKEO. She is a working professional living in Seattle and can usually be found in the outdoors on the weekends. Though she loves all types of outdoor activities, hiking and backpacking are her favorite pastimes! She has been on quite a few hikes throughout her entire life so she would be considered somewhat experienced and knowledgeable, however, she still recognizes that she is still learning. She has traveled solo and with groups, and is perfectly comfortable in both types of settings. She understands her capabilities well and knows exactly what she likes/is looking for. Bailey is tech-savvy and does most of her research online when preparing for her outdoor adventures. She also owns most of the basic hiking gear she needs on a regular basis but is still cultivating speciality equipment for more advanced and technical adventures in the near future! On the very top of her bucket-list is summiting Mr. Rainier before her next birthday!
Julia is our younger hiker persona. She is a college student who recently discovered and has done a handful of easier hikes with friends. Because she isn’t working yet, she prefers more economical options when she is out and about. She loves being in a group setting on hikes because of the social aspect, plus it’s still a bit intimidating to go on her own right now. She owns basic equipment like a rain jacket, but doesn’t have any speciality gear that is optimal for hiking such as supportive hiking boots and trekking poles. Julia is still unsure of her preferences for hiking since it’s all still relatively new to her, but she is very enthusiastic to continue exploring and expanding her horizons! She is extremely tech-oriented and loves all things digital; some would even call her a social media aficionado!
Louis is our older, but wiser hiker persona. He has decades of hiking experience from every corner of the world and is thus, extremely knowledgeable. With his extensive experience, he does not like being told about the basics, and knows exactly what he wants. He usually prefers hiking by himself or in small groups, and rarely goes to crowded trails since he prefers the quiet and solitude. Louis is somewhat physically-challenged due to his age, but since he is partially retired, he has a lot of free time to enjoy being outdoors! Equipment-wise, Louis has everything from the moon and back and he is really open to sharing and reselling his equipment with other hikers. One thing to note is that Louis isn’t really tech-oriented and would prefer have real-human interactions.
For more details on the development of HIKEO’s customer & user personas, please reach out directly to me through the Contact page.