Picturing It! The Effect of Image Styles on User Perceptions of Personas

Joni Salminen, Soon-Gyo Jung, Joao M. Santos, Ahmed Mohamed Sayed Kamel, Bernard J. Jansen

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

14 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Though photographs of real people are typically used to portray personas, there is little research into the potential advantages or disadvantages of using such images, relative to other image styles. We conducted an experiment with 149 participants, testing the effects of six different image styles on user perceptions and personality traits that are attributed to personas by the participants. Results show that perceptions of clarity, completeness, consistency, credibility, and empathy for a persona increase with picture realism. Personas with more realistic pictures are also perceived as more agreeable, open, and emotionally stable, with higher confidence in these assessments. We also find evidence of the uncanny valley effect, with realistic cartoon personas experiencing a decrease in the user perception scores.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationChi '21: Proceedings Of The 2021 Chi Conference On Human Factors In Computing Systems
Subtitle of host publicationMaking Waves, Combining Strengths
PublisherAssoc Computing Machinery
Number of pages16
ISBN (Electronic)978-1-4503-8096-6, 9781450380966
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 6 May 2021
EventCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems -
Duration: 8 May 202113 May 2021

Publication series

NameConference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings

Conference

ConferenceCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Period8/05/2113/05/21

Keywords

  • Persona design
  • Anthropomorphism
  • Pictures
  • Realism

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