Personas: Mr Harris Yiakoumis

Name: Mr Harris Yiakoumi

Age: 62 years old
Occupation: Retired Policeman

Marital Status: Married
Wife: Mrs Eleni Yiakoumi

Children: None

Mr. Harris Yiakoumis is a first generation immigrant from Greece to United States of America. He went there with his family when he was at the age of 15. He lived in New York City for many years during which he finished his high school degree at the age of 18. His parents were working hard when he was young to provide him with the best education possible at that time. At the age of 22 he became a police officer for the New York police department and he had a successful career for 35 years. During his career he met and married his wife Mrs. Eleni who was also an immigrant from Greece. They have a happy marriage but unfortunately they did not manage to have children. After retirement Mr. Harris and Mrs. Eleni spend their time at Louisiana where they bought a cottage near the river. Mr. Harris is fond of fishing and he now wants to be able to learn how to cook his own “catch”.

Hobbies: Mr. Yiakoumis spends most of his time fishing which is his favourite sport. Furthermore he enjoys watching television mostly programs concerning various fishing techniques. Finally Mr Yiakoumis wants to keep his body in a good condition therefore mostly on weekdays he spends more than two hours for walking.

Patterns of behavior: Mr. Yiakoumis is stubborn and independent man, characteristics which he inherited from his years in the police department. Being a policeman for 35 years he has been into situations were his mental and physical abilities had to be tested, therefore he relies on the his abilities to overcome the difficulties that he now has in life. Nowadays that he is retired he has more time to spend for enhancing his knowledge on modern technology but being in his age and because of the simplicity of the products that he used during his early years he still prefers products that are easy to use and are also efficient.

Health Condition: As mentioned earlier Mr. Yiakoumis is an active person who likes to keep his body in a healthy condition. Unlike most of the elderly in his age he does not suffer from any health conditions but he suffers from a wound that he carries from a difficult night at the line of work. Even though he is still very active for a person in his age.

A day in his life: Mr. Yiakoumis wakes up at around 5 o’clock in the morning and begins his day with his morning walk. After his return to the cottage he takes a quick shower and heads to the kitchen to have breakfast with his wife. Mr. Yiakoumis believes that breakfast is the most important meal of the day therefore his wife is making for him a meal consisting of cereals that contain wholegrain and is low in salt and sugar, fruits and to wash down his breakfast a fruit juice.

He then gets his fishing gear and heads to the lake where he spends the rest of his morning. At mid-day he returns to the cottage with his catch (if there is any) and he makes an attempt to cook it. Most of his attempts up to now are ending in a failure but stubborn as he is, he still tries to make it and cook it well.

After he and his wife have lunch they take a nap for 2 to 3 hours. After he wakes up Mr. Yiakoumis sits in front of the television and watches programs that are mostly related to fishing. Because of his latest interest in technology he also spends some time watching programs related to modern technology most of which he cannot understand due to the lack of knowledge that he has about innovative products.

Around 6 in the afternoon he goes to the coffee shop located in a village near his cottage where he spends around 2 hours with some of his latest friends who are also retired. Around 8 in the evening he returns to the cottage where he finds his dinner ready by his wife Eleni. After they finish their dinner they spend some time in front of the television mostly watching some soap opera during which Mr. Yiakomis falls asleep.

Personas: Mr John Smith

Name: Mr John Smith
Age: 79 years old
Occupation: Retired Taxi Driver
Marital Status: Married
Wife: Mrs Elizabeth Smith, deceased 4 years ago
Children: Two Maria 51, Jenny 54
Grandchildren: 5


Mr. John Smith lives at a small house at Birmingham. He went there at the age of 20, after he got married to Elizabeth. He has two daughters, Maria and Jenny which live with their families at distant towns. Maria is currently living at London and the Jenny at Newcastle. He had been working as a taxi driver for 40 years, and therefore his wife was mostly responsible for the housework and cooking. After his retirement he was living with his wife at home, but unfortunately four years ago, his wife died of cancer. He has to cope by himself now, since his closest relatives live far away and it is very difficult to find a helping hand around.

Hobbies: Mostly spends his time watching television, specifically interested in sports like football and basketball.

Patterns of Behavior: Mr. John has always lived a life where he was independent and responsible for his family. He is a very proud man for managing to raise his family in times where the living circumstances where much more difficult and does n’t like to depend on other people for his well being. Being a taxi driver for such a long period of years he had faced enormous difficulties but still he managed to succeed in providing a safe family environment and to educate both his children. He is quite stubborn and has a lot of difficulties in accepting new ways of life and technology innovations. He prefers simple and efficient products.

Health Condition: Like most of the elderly Mr. John faces a lot of health problems. His most serious problems are a kidney removal operation due to cancer symptoms, and weak heart symptoms. He has difficulties in moving around his house, cannot stand by himself for more that a few minutes, gets easily tired and sometimes finds it too painful to get out of bed.

A day in his life: Likes to wake up between the hours 5 a.m. -7 a.m., like he used to do when he was working. Habits are hard to change after a forty year work period. He likes to make himself a breakfast, consisting of a few toasts and a coffee.

He then sits in front of his TV, on his favorite chair to watch the morning programs on the TV. He will take a break to prepare himself both lunch and dinner for the night. Living alone is not easy at his age, so he cooks only once during a day. Usually takes a nap for 3-4 hours in the afternoon. Sometimes when he feels good enough he gets outside his home in his small garden. He enjoys gardening as he finds it a very relaxing and easy way for time to pass by.

After his nap, Mr. John likes to watch the news, and maybe a football match. That depends on his mood and health. Every day around 6 p.m. his daughters contact him by phone to see how he is doing. He will go to sleep between the hours 8 p.m.-10 p.m.

Occasionally, mostly on weekends, he likes to read a newspaper so he walks to the kiosk, just outside his house to buy a newspaper. If the weather is good and sunny he likes to sit near his window and watch at the birds and people passing by. Every 2-3 weeks his daughters will visit him on Sundays.

Persona Definition

A persona is a user archetype you can use to help guide decisions about product features, navigation, interactions, and even visual design.

Kim Goodwin, Director of Design, Cooper Interaction Design

Group Selection

We as a group have chosen the group that is made up of people above 60's as opposed to the group of people below 11 years old. The main characteristics for our user group are the following as described below:

• The elderly groups are people above 60's, that most of the times are living alone with no one to take care of them, in contrast to the age group below 11 that is dependent on adults.

• As the technology advances at crazy rates and the elderly can not cope with the fast rhythm, we should provide ways for them to take advantage of the technology although the majority of them will hardly change habits or adapt to new ways of living. Limitation in technology skills.

• Usually this age group is dealing with physical disabilities or health problems. Coping with these problems is hard, body movement is slow, and special features should be added on products to provide ease-of-use for each product.

• Providing quality product with lost cost is an essential part if you are designing products for the elderly. Usually this age group has low or none income.