Persona is a powerful Design Thinking tool that helps the Design Thinker to perceive the world from the perspective of the customer. What does the person feel? What does he/she think? What is their background that moulds their way of thinking? What motivates them and what are their aspirations? Importantly, what are their fears, doubts and challenges? These provide tremendous insights on the person. This experience plays a pivotal role in drafting messages that greatly impact the intended recipient. The following case study shows that when the persona of the customer is clearly defined, the product/service communicates as per the requirement of the customer.
Lincy wore a pale look as she had been advised by the doctor to take up a CT scan for her condition, at the Children’s Hospital at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Though she was with her father and mother, she was afraid of the CT procedures that her friends had frightened her of, especially the huge machines and the procedures involved. When she reached the reception, to her surprise she was presented with a Pirate Hat and the receptionist informed her that the hat needs to be put on as they would be travelling to a Pirate Island inside the hospital. Lincy’s face immediately brightened and she donned the pirate hat, the gloves and wore the band given to her to enter the room. As she came out of the fifth-floor elevator, a huge board “Pirate Island” welcomed her. She entered the room and could see pirate pictures, pirate knives, large fish pictures which she readily started to enjoy. As the nurse clad her in a pirate dress, she lay down on the machine to enter the island. After the completion, as they were leaving, Lincy turned to her dad and asked him, “Can we come here again ?”
This was the magic that Doug and his colleagues at GE Healthcare produced since they knew the personas of young patients and wanted to make hospital treatment rooms a fun place for kids. The team wanted to give the kids an experience which would increase the power of imagination and reduce the need for sedition. GE Healthcare felt Happy rooms would make Happy kids and this was evangelized when they saw the kids entering the hospital with glum faces. Kids had to be sedated when they had to be taken for an MRI or a CT scan or an X-ray in hospitals and the company felt that the process needed an alternative to this practice. Understanding the pain points of the kids enabled the team to create an immersive and enjoyable experience inside the treatment rooms.
GE Healthcare created fictitious characters like Haley the Hippo, Tara the Toucan, Marcellus the Monkey and Tille the Tiger. Each of these characters had stories stitched carefully that were more or less resonant with most of the kids so it worked. Each of the treatment rooms were designed to carry an individual theme and were designed in such a way that they were more closer to reality. For instance their X-Ray facilities were themed under Bear Brook Adventures which had Cub Bear falls, Bear Brook Playful Park and Beachside. Each of the X-Ray facilities is designed under anyone of this theme and the entire space was created in a manner that the kids would get an immersive experience of the theme rather than the treatment that they had to undergo.
They went beyond the X-Ray space as they found that some of the kids go through different kinds of testing space so they created similar spaces. Their Fluroscopy was modelled on Cub River Falls adventure and River Rafting experience. CT scan centre had to be given more focus as many kids feared this space and so the themes were around Coral City submarine or Pirate Island or a Cozy camp environment. The pictures, the surroundings, the walls everything was made in adherence with the theme and the kids started to enjoy this experience. Kids adored such creative models which were obtained by focusing on who the customer is and what could be done to enhance the last 2% for them.
MRI scanners were more on a Pirate ship based set-up and the room was redone to look like it was under the sea. Kids would be made to walk on a wooden plank type painting on the floor and had to be careful to not fall into water. They then would be laid on to the scanner bed which was designed like a cape and the kids had to lay still so as not to disturb the fishes around. The kids used to love their experience and always wanted another chance. They also extended these amenities to their mobile X-Rays which were based on a Starcatcher theme and their Nuclear medicine was based on jungle adventure or a jungle explorer park experience.
These amenities were set up in hospital treatment rooms as per requirements and the entire staff were trained so that the crux of the theme is carried forward. This idea was adopted by many hospitals around and the number of kids who needed to be sedated reduced drastically. Such testing centres started creating happy children, glad parents, satisfied technicians and contented doctors.
A clearly defined persona of the customer enables the developer to create a magical experience for them.
