MethodsArchetypes
What
Archetypes are visual documents that represent a group of users based on their shared goals, needs, attitudes, behaviors, and/or pain points.
Why
Unlike demographic data that can unintentionally introduce creative blocks or bias, archetypes can help better understand product or service users who share the same behaviors and core desires.
How to do it
- Gather findings from research activities such as contextual inquiry or stakeholder interviews, user surveys, and analysis of customer data and organize them in a way that’s easy to review.
- Analyze and affinity map your research findings for patterns. Note frequently observed goals, motivations, behaviors, pain points, and potential harms (e.g. lack of consent, physical danger, being retraumatized). These patterns help form the foundation of each archetype.
- Create sets of user archetypes based on how you believe people will use your solution and the journeys they are on. These archetypes typically get titles, for example, “the marketing specialist” and will include narratives that describe motivations in a relatable way.
Example at 18F
Tips for remote participation
Archetypes can be created virtually using any variety of digital whiteboards or word-processing tools.
Additional resources
Applied in government
No PRA implications. No information is collected from members of the public.
18F
18F
