"Exploring" is the next stage involves a man getting to know their sexuality and experimenting with sex irrespective of relationship status and without a focus on conceiving a child.

This phase in life involves engaging with sex and sexuality in order to develop an intimate knowledge of interests and perceptions. Users and beneficiaries have now developed either first-hand experience with sexual intercourse and contraception or have people in their lives who have; this helps to shape and evolve their feelings towards relationships and long-term family planning objectives. Intermediaries try to provide resources and advice to guide these family planning conversations and decisions.

USERS

​This group is defined as the individuals that will take or utilize the next generation of contraceptives designed for men.

(persona by Yu luck from the Noun Project)

​Pragmatic Maverick
The Pragmatic Maverick is focused on his own goals and objectives. Driven by a strong sense of personal responsibility, he doesn’t see the logic in having to rely on, and trust, another person to meet his family planning objectives, which at this time are firmly rooted in not having children yet. With respect to male contraception, he simply doesn’t understand why his options are only condom and vasectomy and wants to see some level of parity between male and female methods.

Motivations: His goals, whether they be educational (e.g., finishing school) or professional (e.g., establishing or advancing his career), are his primary concern and he wants the resources necessary to ensure these are not derailed by any unintended consequences to his actions.

Barriers: Limited male birth control options impacts his ability to take responsibility for his actions and to manage his fertility as he sees fit.

Scared Straight Stevie
Scared Straight Stevie never really thought about contraception or considered the ramifications of experiencing/causing an unintended pregnancy, until he and a partner had a pregnancy scare. He may not have lengthy conversations with partners about their experiences with contraception, but he will certainly make sure to find out if they are using any contraceptives. If not, he will use a condom, and may anyways even if his partner is contracepting just for the added sense of security. He would definitely be interested in more methods for men, but doesn’t know a ton about that.

Motivations: He is determined to educate himself about all things related to reproduction, including contraception and family planning in order to find as many ways as possible to reduce his risk.

Barriers: Lack of dialogue with partners about experiences with contraception limits his understanding of their challenges, and the empathy he feels towards them in this regard.​

(persona by Yu luck from the Noun Project)

(persona by Yu luck from the Noun Project)

​Timmy Tinder
Timmy Tinder is enjoying all that life has to offer right now. He’s not thinking about marriage or having children yet - that’s for future Timmy to worry about. He doesn’t mind random hook-ups, nor is he averse to more established, even long-term, relationships. He believes everyone should have the ability (and products) to contribute to pregnancy prevention. He’s open-minded and supportive of all people, but right now is focused on what’s best for him, and having a good time.

Motivations: He is focused on exploring options in all facets of life, be it new restaurants, a great movie, or sex and relationships.

Barriers: He definitely wants to avoid experiencing an unintended pregnancy, and generally communicates with partners to ensure one of them is contracepting, but is frustrated by his lack of options.

Beneficiaries

​This group includes individuals who will benefit from the next generation of male contraceptives without having to take or use these products themselves.

Go with the flow Gertie
Go with the flow Gertie is the consummate “go with the flow” kind of person. She’s down for whatever, as long as she doesn’t really have to be the one to decide what that “whatever” is. She’s just as apt to find herself mountain climbing as she is having a movie night with friends.

Motivations: As long as she’s engaging with people and having a good time, she’s happy. She’s comfortable abdicating responsibility with respect to contraceptive method choice to her partner, doctor, or friend, or even taking emergency contraception when she needs it.

Barriers: She just can’t be bothered spending too much time thinking through this scenario or that. In the past she used Plan B, until her gynecologist suggested a contraceptive method to her, and that’s what she uses now.

(persona by Yu luck from the Noun Project)

(persona by Yu luck from the Noun Project)

Natural Norah
Natural Norah is more likely to be found hiking off-trail than she is dancing at a club, and is definitely more comfortable in her bare feet than she is in any sort of shoe. She is a passionate, engaged environmentalist, and finds endless wonder in nature. She is keyed into her mental, emotional, and physical needs and is biased towards natural remedies; you’ll find a yoga mat in her apartment, but likely not a bottle of aspirin.

Motivations: She sees the natural beauty and amazement in becoming a parent, but is not sure yet whether or not she wants to be a mother yet, or at all.

Barriers: She enjoys sex, but finds using contraception herself to be too unnatural; she does not want to alter her biology. She relies on withdrawal and the rhythm method, but knows that these aren’t perfect and it makes her nervous.

Polyamorous Pollyanna
Polyamorous Pollyanna is an independent, confident woman who charts her own path in life; she is guided by her own north star rather than any conventions or traditions. She knows what she wants in life and believes inherently that she deserves it all.

Motivations: She does not think monogamy is healthy, and definitely does not think it is practical or even realistic in her life. Her interests and tastes are diverse, and variety is a priority to her.

Barriers: Parenthood might be an eventuality, but she wants to control whether or when that happens. Her method serves its purpose for her, but she thinks more methods for all people are an absolute must.

(persona by Yu luck from the Noun Project)

Intermediaries

​This group is composed of individuals that will neither take, nor directly benefit from the next generation of male contraceptives, but still have a vested interest in ensuring their development.

(persona by Yu luck from the Noun Project)

Auntie Aditi
​Auntie Aditi is the youngest sibling in her family, and she feels more like an older sibling to her nieces and nephews than an aunt. She’s the fun-loving presence at every family reunion and holiday get together, the one who’s apt to bring water balloons to a summer picnic and get drum kits for birthday presents: she wants the best for her nieces and nephews but is happily free from parental constraints.

Motivations: Her nieces and nephews adore her and are wont to reach out to her with any pressing concerns or questions they feel they cannot bring to their parents. As they get older, these are more and more inclined towards dating and sex.

Barriers: She’s thrilled her nieces and nephews are comfortable talking to her about such matters, but it fuels her concerns about their well-being when she considers the challenges of contraceptive access and the limited products out there for men.

Drug Developer Darryl
Drug Developer Darryl has always been interested in the inner workings of things. He was that kid who’d take apart his radio just to see how it functions. He loves to tinker, and getting to the bottom of the processes that make the world spin drives him every day. He feels that the lack of male contraceptive options relative to female contraception is a travesty, but more so through the lens of scientific discovery than one of relationship equity.

Motivations:  He seeks out challenges and puzzles to solve, so becoming a research scientist was a natural progression. He’s keenly interested in male contraception due to the lack of progress that’s been made in the field.

Barriers: The lack of progress is confounding to him, and he is determined to be the one to “crack the code”. He doesn’t think too deeply about the aspects beyond science that could impact male contraceptive methods becoming a reality.

(persona by Yu luck from the Noun Project)

(persona by Yu luck from the Noun Project)

Pharma Francie
Pharma Francie has a very successful career working for a pharmaceutical company. She has a keen ability to identify opportunities with respect to new therapeutics, and sees male contraception as an untapped market with huge growth (and profit) potential. She is driven by that simple calculus: where there is a gap, there is an opportunity, and where there is opportunity, there is money. Plain and simple.

Motivations: Identifying a new, lucrative drug or therapeutic will help her climb to the next rung of the corporate ladder, and provide both her and her company with a competitive advantage that is financially rewarding.

Barriers: There is an entrenched risk-aversion that permeates the pharmaceutical industry when it comes to investing in new innovations, despite how disruptive and lucrative they could be.

Meet the personas from other life stages:

learning

DECIDING

Concluding

Using the Personas

Personas are fictional characters created as stand-ins or avatars for the different types of individuals that may use or be impacted by a product. They allow for the development of a deeper understanding of users’ needs, experiences, behaviors, and goals by allowing you to empathize with another’s reality and point of view. As such, it is important to identify and expand different user characteristics in order to make the personas as rooted in reality as possible.

To help get you started with using the personas for ideation purposes, we have created a page dedicated to various games, activities, and workshop agendas. We encourage you to try these out, and reach out to us with any questions or suggestions. Please also be sure to share any outputs from your persona design activities with us!

Persona Activities

(Please note: there are many different ways that one can utilize personas in ideation activities, and we encourage everyone to explore as many different approaches to using them as possible. Organizations like the Interaction Design Foundation, Open Design Kit, IDEO, Development Impact & You, Session Lab, and others are great resources for inspiration on how to utilize design thinking and personas, so please be sure to seek out additional information to help guide your work.)

* - Disclaimer: The development of these personas was conducted as a design exercise. The foundation of the exercise is the qualitative understanding of the male contraception ecosystem that MCI has developed through our work. We have engaged with stakeholders that we feel are a holistic representation of this ecosystem: researchers, funders, regulatory agencies, government officials, product developers, marketers, students, parents, advocates, potential users, and the general public in general. The following is intended to be provocative. Our hope is that this will catalyze conversations that help elucidate the male contraception field, and that these discussions afford us all the opportunity to understand and imagine who will use, benefit from, and advocate for male contraceptive methods.