Segmenting Based On How Minds Work
Marketers group people into target markets using demographic profiles. Cognitive designers do the same thing only using psychographic profiles or sets of common cognitive characteristics, needs and biases. I am often ask if there are generic psychographic profiles along with instruments and surveys for using them. I believe the answer is no, but I do find the following styles of value:
* Kolb’s four experiential learning styles
* Hermann’s four whole-brain thinking styles
* Gregorc’s four mind styles
Each style is rooted in theory, has good empirical support and includes easy to use instruments for segmenting. Most importantly, the resulting profiles have strong implications for the types of features and functions you need to include in your design.
