Non-human and non-user personas for life-centred design
Tools to represent the animals, environments, and invisible humans impacted by design
Life-centred design expands human-centred design to consider the impacts on the planet and all the people along the supply chain and product lifecycle. This wider view of the entire product lifecycle also expands our idea of who the stakeholders are.
As a designer familiar with user personas and profiles, you may have heard of non-human personas — personas representing the animals and environments impacted by our creations. But life-centred design reminds us there are also ‘invisible’ humans to consider—non-users such as factory workers, miners, farmers, and communities that are part of the product lifecycle or impacted by it.
Non-human and non-user personas help identify and protect life-centred design’s three stakeholder groups.
3 Interdependent Stakeholders
Life-centred design’s stakeholders can be identified as 3 larger groups, with human-centred design’s target-user and business stakeholders included and remaining at the centre, but no longer considered alone:
- All peoples — Target users, Non-users (Individuals, communities, and employees of organisations working within the product lifecycle); Invisible humans (individuals and communities not involved in the lifecycle but who are impacted by it); All human knowledge and ways of existing
- All non-humans — From large animals (amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals) to insects and microbes; on land, sea, air, or underground; domestic, livestock, captive, or wild; whether ‘proven’ sentient or not
- All planet — Vegetation (trees, forests, swamps, etc.), water systems (oceans, lakes, rivers, freshwater), air, soil, climate, landforms (mountains, hills, etc.), sunlight, ecosystems
Life-centred personas
Anthropologist, UX researcher, and environment-centred design advocate , Monika Snzel, wrote about non-human personas in 2020, with a focus on environmental personas, as being visual characterisations of the environments impacted by a product’s lifecycle.
Monika argued that non-human personas differ from user personas in that non-human personas are primarily based on facts sourced from respectable global organisations like the UN, more localised affiliate-free organisations and experts, scientists, and the people impacted by any environmental concerns relevant to the product.
Monika’s work inspired exploration by other designers, such as the persona tools designed by myself, and persona implementation explored by Jeroen Spoelstra. Interaction professor and author, Martin Tomitsch, formally argued the case for non-human personas earlier this year and introduced a framework of creation and use based on his experience with them.
Non-human personas are evolving in other disciplines and mediums, too.
An extended reality agency, Black Rhino, created this evocative non-human persona video of the largest dumpsite in Eastern Africa.
Based on classic user personas, and expanding on Snezl’s work, non-human personas may include:
- Threats to the stakeholder’s current condition
- Where and when the stakeholder is impacted by the product life-cycle
- Use of first-person narrative and verbatim to personify the non-human persona to assist empathy among the team
Combining Nielson Norman Group’s user persona and Snezl’s non-human persona guidance, the purpose of a non-human persona could be defined as:
A realistic and fact-based representation of non-human entities to ensure their inclusion in all stages of design and design-making by fostering human empathy, awareness, and respect.
Non-human personas, however, only represent two of the life-centred design stakeholders—animals and environments.
Non-users are the people indirectly impacted at any stage of the product lifecycle and could include victims of:
- Forced labour
- Marginiliastion created by the use of your product
- People or communities affected by pollution from the supply chain
- Other
Non-user personas may represent a real person or a persona group. They may be a combination of fictional representation and scientific data.
Identifying non-human and non-user stakeholders
1. Identify product lifecycle
Use this Simplified Lifecycle Map to think about the complete lifecycle of your product, from material extraction to manufacture, ship, supply, use, and discard. For digital products, think about the physical components that support the digital experience (servers, devices, etc.).
- Components—Consider the location of each lifecycle stage and list the key components and resources involved, such as energy, materials, structures, processes, and systems. Refer to a service map if you have one.
- Non-user humans—Note the non-user humans at each stage and research who might be impacted and how (e.g. unfair work conditions). Consider those working in the lifecycle and people and communities nearby (e.g. local makers losing business). Capture positive and negative impacts.
- Environments—Research the natural environment and resources at each lifecycle stage and how they might be impacteded, positively and negatively (e.g. pollution, resource overuse)
- Animals—Consider any animals at each stage, domestic, wild, livestock, or other, and research them to note any that are impacted, positively and negatively, and how (e.g. loss of habitat)
Identify one or more key stakeholders to focus on.
2. Gather information
Use a combination of techniques to gather information about the key personas:
- Gather data—research the facts and statistics
- Observation and immersion—spend time in the environment or observing the animal
- Expert interviews—talk to scientists and to the non-user stakeholders
3. Create
Compile your findings from 1 and 2 using the relevant personas below. Use a mixture of information that tells a story and conveys the persona’s experience from their perspective as well as information that specifically informs design decisions to protect them.
Life-centred design personas
1. Environment persona
The Non-human persona consists of three main sections:
- Image and quote — This section provides a summary for instant empathy. Add an image and a quote ‘by the environment’ that captures both their individuality and significance to the ecosystem. Avoid over-humanising, use terms that reflect their values and world.
- Lifecycle impacts — Tick the boxes representing the product lifecycle stages that potentially impact the environment.
- Needs, challenges, solutions — Summarise their needs and the challenges to their thriving existence. Keep these related to the lifecycle stage where they are impacted. Research Prevention and Healing solutions to the challenges — this makes the persona a practical tool for brainstorming about improvements or regeneration.
2. Animal persona
This animal persona consists of three main sections:
- Image and voice — This section provides a summary for instant understanding and empathy. Add a representational image of the animal and a quote, written in first-person ‘by the animal’ that captures both their individuality and significance to the ecosystem. If the persona represents one individual animal, infuse the quote with their character and nature. Avoid humanising them too much by speaking with terms that reflect their values and world.
- Protect — This section informs designing products and experiences in a way that recognises and minimises potential impacts on animals. Summarise the habitat and environment they need to thrive, their needs and joys, and challenges to their thriving existence. Tick the boxes representing the product lifecycle stages that potentially impact the animal.
- Engage — This section informs designing experiences that the animal engages or interacts with. Summarise how they navigate, communicate, and interact with the world. Clarify their barriers to engagement and inclusion with the human world and identify any key humans they interact with.
After the animals to consider are identified, a persona could be created for each one for reference during the design process and during all decision-making.
3. Non-user persona
This Non-user persona is based on classic user personas, but it also includes where and when in the product life-cycle they are impacted and the causes and threats to their current condition.
This Non-user Persona consists of three main sections:
- Image and quote — This section provides a summary for instant understanding and empathy. Add a representational image of the non-user stakeholder and a quote, written in first-person by the non-user that captures both their individuality and how they are impacted. Use terms that reflect their values and world.
- Lifecycle impacts — Tick the boxes representing the product lifecycle stages that potentially impact the non-user.
- Needs, challenges, solutions — Summarise their needs and the challenges to their thriving existence. Keep these related to the lifecycle stage where they are impacted and localised if possible. Research solutions to the challenges and split them into Prevention and Healing — this makes the persona a practical tool for any brainstorming sessions about improvements or regeneration.
Get the Non-human Persona Starter pack
Start including nature and vulnerable people in design—download the Non-human Persona Starter Pack to get started.
Refer to the personas as needed during the design process and keep them visible as a constant reminder to consider non-human and non-user stakeholders in all decision-making.
You might also want to explore these:
- Start practising with 8 steps to using non-human personas in digital design
- Check out this experiment
- Visit the companion website of my book The Life-centred Design Guide.
More from Damien…
Explore Damien’s two design innovation labs:
- Life-centred Design Lab — expanding human-centred design to include nature and invisible communities
- Future Scouting — Designing life-centred, values-driven future tech products with speculative design
Get practical with tools and courses:
- Life-centred Design Books and Toolkits
- Life-centred Design Courses
- Life-centred Design Innovation Cards
Follow Damien on Medium for more fringe design thinking and experiments.
