Personae

Designers use personae to put a face on our designs. We design for people, and by creating a persona we can evaluate the success of our designs in the narrative of our persona’s everyday life. Cincinnati Transforum is creating them for a slightly different purpose.

Our studio is not designing the streetcar plan, we are trying to get the word out and connect with the people of Cincinnati. Throughout the quarter we have been inundated with brilliant ideas and very real concerns during our interviews. We are creating personae, not to generalize the population of Cincinnati, but to build a narrative around the shared experiences of the diverse people of our city.

Our final personae are below. We hope our readers will be able to understand and relate to the experiences our characters embark on.

Our Personae

Anna

Anna is a working mom living with her family in Covington, KY. She likes shopping at Findlay Market but hates having to find parking, by taking a short walk across the bridge and getting on the streetcar she is able to avoid the challenges and frustrations of driving to Findlay Market.

Gene

Gene is a veteran who lives near Washington park and often has to travel uptown to go to the hospital. He no longer has a car and relies on the streetcar to preserve his independence. He appreciates the simplicity and reliability of the Streetcar verses that of the bus.

Lisa

Lisa lives in Hyde Park and works downtown. Because she has to pay for parking daily she rarely drives anywhere for lunch. Taking the streetcar allows her to easily travel to Over the Rhine or Clifton for lunch without having to take her car out of the garage.

The Reuter Family

The Reuter Family lives in the Gateway district and relies on public transportation because they don’t own a car. They like to take afternoon trips around the city and ride the streetcar to the zoo so their young daughter can experience the animals and gardens.

The Morris Family

The Morris family is a suburban family who travels downtown for Reds games. By parking in Clifton and taking the streetcar down to the stadium they avoid high parking costs, congestion, and can eat dinner at a new restaurant near campus.