Persona 1: Han Nguyen is a 27-year-old native of the Twin Cities. She grew up in Minneapolis and although she swore she’d jump at the chance to get out of town, she’s still here doing very well in her job as a biomedical engineer. She’s come to terms with putting down roots enough to buy her first home in the Highland Park area. Han falls smack into the Money & Brains/Urban Achievers groupings. She makes $80,000 in her field and enjoys living in a cool, trendy part of town. Han’s super social, a big chunk of that comes from growing up in Minneapolis. Han knows where all the best clubs, bars and happening places are around the Twin Cities. New to the area? Get to know Han. She knows everyone around town and if she doesn’t know someone with your interests, chances are she knows how to point you in the right direction. She knows which restaurants are mainstays, which have simply changed hands and which of the new places is destined to make it in town.
She hangs out with her alumni friends from her undergrad days at the University of Minnesota. She left for a while to study Biomedical Engineering at MIT but decided she longed for the Mississippi, lakes and green country of the Twin Cities over the urban core and fast-paced lifestyle of Boston.
Han loves to shop and considers herself something of a fashionista. She’s trendy and loves to be among the first sporting new fashion trends. It’s hard to miss Han in her bright yellow Mini Cooper. Han grew up as part of a working class Vietnamese family and knew that she could succeed in any field she wanted. She settled on engineering after taking several biology and physics classes at her math and science oriented high school. She earned a scholarship to UMN.
Personality: Han’s quite outgoing, something of a social butterfly. She has friends all over the city and always has something going on. Her best friends are the ones who’ve known her since high school and the girls who lived in her suite her freshman year of college. She likes going out to bars and clubs, eating at new restaurants, going to gallery openings, and enjoys listening to live music. Han loves to cook and entertain. It’s a big part of why she bought the house she did – the kitchen and living room areas were perfect for entertaining big parties.
Her professional peers admire Han for her work ethic, her drive to succeed and her always upbeat and positive attitude. She’s extremely efficient at her tasks and is always looking to take the lead role on upcoming projects. She’s done well at her engineering firm so far, despite the fact that she’s one of the youngest in the group, and one of only a handful of female engineers in her department.
Attitudes: Han knows the value of a dollar; her parents taught her that at a young age. While she loves to shop and spend her money, she’s a master at bargaining and looking for great sales. She values saving money for a rainy day and is the first among her friends to buy a house.
Lifestyle motivators: Han is driven by her desire to live a better life than her parents. She didn’t grow up underprivileged, but knows that she can make a better life for herself than the one her parents led. They taught her to strive for greatness in everything she does.
Media interests: Han’s never subscribed to a newspaper. She did read the campus papers when she was in college and working on her master’s. She’s just always found a different way to get her news rather than through the newspaper. She subscribes to several RSS feeds for news related to her field. She gets email alerts from the New York Times and CNN. When she gets to work in the morning, she looks through the Pioneer Press, the Star Tribune and the Wall Street Journal looking for items that interest her. She has My Space and Facebook accounts as well as a couple different websites, mostly things that were started as projects in college. Han is a LinkedIn member, but many of her older colleagues haven’t yet gotten into that professional social tool.
User type: Expert. Han spent enough time in the engineering department to pick up computer skills from some of the up and coming hacker types. She knows her way around a computer since she took several computer science classes to round out her engineering degree. Much of her work is prototyped and tested through complicated computer design and simulation programs. When it comes to technology, Han is not afraid at all. She welcomes cutting edge technologies and when something new arrives in the office, she is among the first users to give it a test run.
Han’s an early-adopter. She was one of the first in her class at college to give up a landline for her cell phone. She usually gets a new phone every 6 months or so; she loves having the newest gadgets. She’s anxiously awaiting the launch of the iPhone. All of her computers are synched and she’s looking at redoing the wiring in her house so she can set up the ultimate home theatre and studio for entertaining.
Loyalty status: Han’s a picky user. Give her a site that’s fun or intuitive to use and she’ll likely stick with you for a long time to come. Burn her on usability, interest, interface or intelligence and she’ll not only not come back to your site, she’ll make sure her friends don’t come to your site either. Make a satisfied customer out of Han and she’ll bring you business.
Usage goals: Han would like to know more about the area of town where she bought her home. It’s a new part of town to her even though she’s lived in the Twin Cities all her life. Han wants to learn more about her neighbors and the things there are to do within walking distance of her home. She’s already met her neighbors who have given her several suggestions of places to go and things to do, but they’re a married couple with two kids, and she feels their suggestions might be a little too family oriented for her tastes.
She’s quite a novice when it comes to home repairs and do it yourself projects. She would like some advice on how to find local handymen or experts who can help recommend fixes to her. Han doesn’t know much about gardening and taking care of a yard, but she’d love to learn. Maybe she could spend some time with a gardening club to help her learn.
Emotional goals: Han hopes to find people like her in her new neighborhood. She’s not looking to replace her current network of friends and family, rather she wants to expand it and really become involved in her new community.
Why twincities.com should care about Han as a user: Han’s part of the elusive 25-34 demographic. She’s single and has money to burn, even though she just bought her first house. She saved a lot of money so she could make a hefty down payment. Now she’s ready to find out more about her area of the city. She thinks twincities.com is a bit old and out of touch with what her generation is looking for. The paper doesn’t get to the heart of news stories fast enough for Han’s taste. She wants to be able to customize the site so she can find what she wants more quickly. Han would like to see the twincities.com site take more chances and loosen up and have some fun.
photo courtesy Ack Ook on Flickr.com
1 comment:
I can't imagine what Han thought of the news about MIT's famous director of admissions. So sad.
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