American personas

A few weeks ago, Putting People First profiled a project by Claritas to create Americana personas. Demographic data was compiled to come up with a few dozen different kinds of Americans and situate them in the geography of the nation.

Using a combination of Census data and information generated by everything from car warranties to grocery store reward cards, the company has characterized 66 distinct types of U.S. households. These segments include such basic demographics as age and household income, but also capture everything from where people buy their clothes to which magazines they read. “Country Squires,” for example, drive Lexus SUVs, read Architectural Digest, and buy furniture from Ethan Allen. Members of the “Shotguns and Pickups” segment, meanwhile, drive Dodge Rams, watch auto races, and drink Bud Light.
From Spirit Magazine (September 2007), by Southwest Airlines

Through a web tool, I conducted a neighborhood search for my zip code. My current neighbors are:

• Blue Highways (#45)
  On maps, blue highways are often two-lane roads that wind through remote stretches of the American landscape. Among lifestyles, Blue Highways is the standout for lower-middle-class couples and families who live in isolated towns and farmsteads. Here, Boomer men like to hunt and fish; the women enjoy sewing and crafts, and everyone looks forward to going out to a country music concert.
• City Startups (#47)
  In City Startups, young, multi-ethnic singles have settled in neighborhoods filled with cheap apartments and a commercial base of cafés, bars, laundromats and clubs that cater to twentysomethings. One of the youngest segments in America–with ten times as many college students as the national average–these neighborhoods feature low incomes and high concentrations of Hispanics and African-Americans.
• Mobility Blues (#53)
  Young singles and single parents make their way to Mobility Blues, a segment of working-class neighborhoods in America’s satellite cities. Racially mixed and under 25 years old, these transient Americans tend to have modest lifestyles due to their lower-income jobs. Surveys show they excel in going to movies, playing basketball and shooting pool.
• New Beginnings (#44)
  Filled with young, single adults, New Beginnings is a magnet for adults in transition. Many of its residents are twentysomething singles and couples just starting out on their career paths–or starting over after recent divorces or company transfers. Ethnically diverse–with nearly half its residents Hispanic, Asian or African-American–New Beginnings households tend to have the modest living standards typical of transient apartment dwellers.
• Red, White & Blues (#42)
  The residents of Red, White & Blues typically live in exurban towns rapidly morphing into bedroom suburbs. Their streets feature new fast-food restaurants, and locals have recently celebrated the arrival of chains like Wal-Mart, Radio Shack and Payless Shoes. Middle-aged, high school educated and lower-middle class, these folks tend to have solid, blue-collar jobs in manufacturing, milling and construction.

In addition to these descriptions, there is a lot of valuable demographic data, including age, income, ethnic diversity and lifestyle traits.

I also looked at my old stomping grounds of Woodstock, Illinois (60098) where I spent the first 23 years of my life as a resident.

• Boomtown Singles (#35)
  Affordable housing, abundant entry-level jobs and a thriving singles scene–all have given rise to the Boomtown Singles segment in fast-growing satellite cities. Young, single and working-class, these residents pursue active lifestyles amid sprawling apartment complexes, bars, convenience stores and laundromats.
• Middleburg Managers (#27)
  Middleburg Managers arose when empty-nesters settled in satellite communities which offered a lower cost of living and more relaxed pace. Today, segment residents tend to be middle-class and over 45 years old, with solid managerial jobs and comfortable retirements. In their older homes, they enjoy reading, playing musical instruments, indoor gardening and refinishing furniture.
• Up-and-Comers (#24)
  Up-and-Comers is a stopover for young, midscale singles before they marry, have families and establish more deskbound lifestyles. Found in second-tier cities, these mobile, twentysomethings include a disproportionate number of recent college graduates who are into athletic activities, the latest technology and nightlife entertainment.
• Upward Bound (#13)
  More than any other segment, Upward Bound appears to be the home of those legendary Soccer Moms and Dads. In these small satellite cities, upscale families boast dual incomes, college degrees and new split-levels and colonials. Residents of Upward Bound tend to be kid-obsessed, with heavy purchases of computers, action figures, dolls, board games, bicycles and camping equipment.
• White Picket Fences (#34)
  Midpoint on the socioeconomic ladder, residents in White Picket Fences look a lot like the stereotypical American household of a generation ago: young, middle-class, married with children. But the current version is characterized by modest homes and ethnic diversity–including a disproportionate number of Hispanics and African-Americans.

The Claritas marketing demographics may be a great initial step in a design inquiry. Although their use in design is often criticized as being impractical, personas do have the advantage of humanizing abstract data and can stimulate insight generation and interaction debugging simply by allowing the designer to empathize with a potential, albeit fictitious user of the intended system. These Americana personas lack some of the elements in the Cooper version—a user’s context, personal goals, points of pain, and major questions to answer—but they offer an empirically-backed portrait of a possible kind of user. Particularly when designing for a specific community, the Claritas neighbors can help positively constrain the early stages of the process.

For more information, there is a presentation of the research available on USA Today‘s web site.