User Types

Olivia Burd

Information Architecture

Dr. Kerr

February 23, 2025

Week 5 Assignment: User Types

User Group Definition & Attributes

Police Officers and Detectives

The police officers and detectives that could utilize this site are ones that work on criminal cases or are on the task force. These will likely be those who are more advanced in their career and will typically be between the ages of 35-50. Gender and race could be any and all, it just depends who is on the task force. Since these users are well into their professional careers they are likely married, with children and very comfortable financially. Location will be based on if the area has a high crime rate and if there is a specific task force that works to solve crimes.

Potential Investigative Journalists

Potential investigative journalists are users who are considering a career in investigative journalism. These individuals can be of any race or gender, but are likely young as they have not yet decided on a career. Age could range from 17-25. The location of these individuals can also vary; this age range is likely to move away from the place they currently reside. These individuals are likely unemployed or have a low income because they are still students with little to no experience. Due to the young age, many are likely to be single and childless although this may vary as well. Fluency in English is required for these users.

True Crime Finatics

These users will have the most variety in description as true crime fans come from all walks of life, however, they will need to be fluent in English. The appropriate age range is roughly 14 and older due to heavy topics. These true crime fanatics are likely to have been fans for a while as this wouldn’t be the first website they would go to. Due to research statistics, the majority of these users are likely to be white, females, however, any race and gender could be users. Location, socio-economic status, family relationships, and educational background will all vary widely.

User Requirements

Requirements for this website are well thought out based on users' educational backgrounds, ages, location, languages, work status, and other mitigating factors. First and foremost, because all users are fluent in English, that is the language that the entire website is written in. Because the primary viewer is police officers and detectives, the site needs to feel very professional. The age range for these users is important to note in terms of accessibility because they might not be as well versed in website design, so the layout and template needs to be easy to navigate. The focus here will be educating these authoritative figures on how investigative journalism can help them solve criminal cases. That being said, information should be presented in a way that is easy to understand, but there can be some jargon that is used.

For potential investigative journalists, it’s important that the information is written clearly, but again, jargon can be used because they will need to know that information for the career. As they are trying to gather information about the career and what it entails, all pages of the site need to be easily accessible. For this group of people, there needs to be elements or design features that make it exciting and inspiring.

Lastly, when thinking about true crime finatics, it’s important to ensure that the “Real Life Examples” page is easy to access. The stories on that page should have the least amount of jargon present, and are interesting reads, as these users are likely visiting the site solely for this section of it.