In this blog, Arshdeep reflects on the importance of humanizing student data, and how she learned to visually tell a story through personas and story moments.
Written by Arshdeep Kang, Communications & Operations Lead, Honours Bachelor of Design
When I first came across personas in school, I was taught how to take qualitative data informed by real stories and build empathy by humanizing challenges people faced. But I was yet to experience the positive impact personas had on real world projects. Much of the work we did in school was hypothetical and was based off so little data which we collected from our peers. Working at the Innovation Hub showed me how personas are applied in a real-world setting and used to create change on campus. I learned how to visually translate the stories of these personas using story moments to help readers understand and connect with student experiences.
Power of Personas
In school, I learned about how personas are a culmination of real stories recorded during the qualitative data collection process. These stories are crafted into fictional representations of people to help readers understand and empathize with people’s experiences, needs, and challenges. One thing that stood out to me about these personas was how their diverse backgrounds and experiences stay true to participants’ stories without compromising their identity.
When I came across the Reimagining Commuter Student Spaces iHub report, it was the first instance I had seen personas being practically used in a qualitative research report. Reading this report revealed how important it is to represent different student experiences. As someone who has been a commuter student, I initially read the report thinking that every student’s experience would be like mine; that they’d have an early start to the day and commute for long periods of time. As I kept reading the report, however, I realized that there is more nuance to these students’ stories and how a persona isn’t meant to represent one common experience. There are personas like Theo, who identify as neurodivergent and needs a quiet place after his commute to decompress. Or there’s Anna, who bikes for 45 minutes at a time and can’t find ways to participate in extracurriculars because of her schedule.
These personas helped me understand the diverse U of T student population while challenging my personal bias and experience. Reading about Theo and Anna’s experiences helped me empathize with how different contextual backgrounds may impact student experiences; it’s not just one story.
Why Tell a Story?
When I initially read these personas, I thought they were a great representation of many different U of T students. But then I wondered, “Okay, now what do I do with this information? Why do these personas matter?” That’s when I came across Story Moments. Story moments are a visual representation of mapping a persona’s journey and showing them in their respective contexts. It shows a snapshot into their life with the challenges they face and their needs in that moment. In an academic setting, I have always used personas to help present journey maps, which show the user’s experience in achieving a goal, and is typically visualized as a chart. Although journey maps have their own time and place, in a setting like the University where information is presented to the community, I found it easier to connect with student experiences when presented as story moments.
When I looked at the story moment for Theo and noticed how his experience was presented with graphics that visually set up the scene, I could exactly imagine the challenges he faced on a daily basis. I could empathize with his experience of not finding a place to sit down after a long and stimulating commute. When I read Liling’s experience of how lonely they felt after their long commute to campus to find no one in class yet, I could understand what they were feeling because of the visual representation of their journey.
Grounding these stories within a visual context helped me as a reader to empathize and understand the challenges faced by these students. I believe a key part of making data accessible to readers is to present it within context. Without personas and visually mapping out student experiences, it would be difficult to interpret meaningful qualitative data.
Lost in Visual Translation
Having read the Reimagining Commuter Student Spaces report and connected with personas and their story moments, I had a better understanding of the importance behind making qualitative data accessible for readers. As a designer, creating visuals that are reader-friendly and can get the message across easily was a new challenge for me. During my program, the personas we created were simple icons, and the journey maps were grounded in text rather than visuals. My experience comes from a UX background, where we tried to solve problems and develop solutions based on the user experience. But then I stepped into this role and learned how to tell a story using impactful visuals.
I thought it was difficult at first to frame the story from someone else’s perspective and lived experience that wasn’t similar to my own. I would create multiple storyboards with different settings and ask my team members if the story came across. I remember illustrating a scene where the persona is shown to be in distress. When I asked my team members for their input, they couldn’t understand what the persona felt in the moment. Through multiple iterations, I realized that if I simply added lightning bolts or a drop of sweat coming down the persona’s face, these symbols would convey different feelings. That’s how I learned that designing for the general audience meant using symbols and illustrations that everyone could understand. This design process made me more aware of how readers will perceive information, and the significance behind using universal symbols to get the message across. Visual storytelling is just as important as the personas, as it helps readers holistically understand these student experiences.
Storytelling to Create Change
Personas and story moments play a huge role in how we convey student stories to the community. Reading the Reimagining Commuter Student Spaces report challenged my biases and helped me understand the diversity of the U of T population. I learned that framing qualitative research through a storytelling lens helps people to relate to stories. These stories leave a lasting impact on readers, driving them to take action and help create positive change. Reading these story moments inspires me to think of ways we can help better the student experience on campus.
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