Scenarios

Scenarios

Scenario describe the stories and context behind why a specific user or user group comes to your site. They note the goals and questions to be achieved and sometimes define the possibilities of how the user(s) can achieve them on the site.

Scenario are critical both for designing an interface and for usability testing.

What to Consider When Writing Scenarios

Good Scenario are concise but answer the following key questions:

  • Who is the user? Use the personas that have been developed to reflect the real, major user groups coming to your site.
  • Why does the user come to the site? Note what motivates the user to come to the site and their expectations upon arrival, if any.
  • What goals does he/she have? Through task analysis, you can better understand the what the user wants on your site and therefore what the site must have for them to leave satisfied.

Types of Scenarios

Goal- or Task-Based Scenarios

state only what the user wants to do.

Example: A parent is worried about a ten-year old refusing to drink milk and wants to know if it really makes a difference that the child is getting very little calcium.

Elaborated Scenarios

give more user story details.

Full Scale Task Scenarios

include the steps to accomplish the task.

Using Scenarios in Website Design

Using Scenarios in Usability Testing