"Deciding" is the third phase, and it finds a man at the juncture in life where he is considering life events like getting married and having children, or not.

This phase in life is a crossroads of sorts as it finds both users and beneficiaries at this point have enough lived experience to determine what their preferred course of action is with respect to family planning goals while intermediaries work to ensure that everyone has adequate resources to meet those needs and goals.

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)

​Empathic Ezra
Empathic Ezra thinks it is absolutely ridiculous that women have to bear so much of the responsibility when it comes to contraception. He has close relationships with women in his life, and is a big advocate for women’s rights and equality. He’s well versed in contraception and has had friends who have had very bad experiences with their methods. His first EP, “The Flaunting Flautist”, which the Village Voice called, “a jazz flute tour de force”, was once featured at a Starbucks.

Motivations: He doesn’t understand why there aren’t more male methods yet, and wants to know what he can do to help the cause.

Barriers: He is constantly frustrated at his, and men’s, inability to step up and shoulder some of the responsibility.

Me-first Manny
Me-first Manny is convinced that there is malicious intent in nearly all actions of women, especially with respect to sex and family planning. He spends entirely too much time online and could use a hug, and a good talking to.

Motivations: He absolutely believes that women act in nefarious ways, trying to ensnare men with an “unintended” pregnancy caused by their willful deceit regarding contraception, including sabotaging methods (e.g., poking holes in condoms) and lying about using contraception altogether.

Barriers: He suffers from a pervasive lack of trust in women, and is seeking better, more effective contraception due to this.

(persona by Yu luck from the Noun Project)

(persona by Yu luck from the Noun Project)

Settling Down Syed
Settling Down Syed may or may not have just found “the one”. He’s entered into a long-term relationship and, for the first time in his life, is starting to think about marriage and all that is entailed with it, including whether or not to have children.

Motivations: He and his partner are both open to having children, but they’re not 100% committed to the idea just yet. They are almost to a point where they can support a child or children, financially and otherwise, but both are more focused on their careers, social lives, and each other at this time. Given their level of trust, they are not worried about transmittable disease, and as such condoms have been phased out of their contraceptive life.

Barriers: They are currently contracepting, but would love more options that they could take advantage of.

​Uncertain Alan
Uncertain Alan kinda, sorta knows he doesn’t want to have children, but he also knows he is not ready to commit to getting a vasectomy yet. He thinks that having access to something like a reversible vasectomy could help bridge him to a final decision, as he could actually experience infertility before committing to it permanently, and would like to decide a best course of action with his partner before making any permanent decisions.

Motivations: He is at a stage in his life where he is capable of supporting a family, but thinks more and more that a child-free life is the right way forward for him. His relationship status allows him to choose whatever path forward he likes with respect to family planning.

Barriers: He wishes that there were more male contraceptives that provide a range of options (e.g., method and duration of action) similar to what women have as he is hesitant to commit to sterilization right now.

(persona by Yu luck from the Noun Project)

(persona by Yu luck from the Noun Project)

​Wait, What? Waylan
Wait, What? Waylon is surprised to hear that people think there is a need for more male contraceptives. It’s not that he’s against contraception for men, it’s just news to him. He doesn’t generally think about health-related things in his life, preferring to seek medical advice or support only when needed. He goes with the flow and largely is a reactionary person, rather than a preventative one.

Motivations: If better options of male contraception were available, he would not be averse to using them even if he is not readily seeking them out currently.

Barriers: He never thought much about contraception, beyond condoms, which are really all that men need to avoid getting someone pregnant or getting an STI, right?

Beneficiaries

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

Can’t Use Cathy
Can’t Use Cathy is at her wit’s end with respect to contraception: every method she has tried herself has caused significant issues for her physically, emotionally, and otherwise. Even more frustrating, she cannot rely on male condoms since they irritate her skin. She wants to have children someday so she doesn’t want her partner to have a vasectomy. What to do?

Motivations: She’s desperate for new contraceptive solutions and fears there are many others just like her suffering this same fate.

Barriers: An unintended pregnancy would be devastating for her at this time in her life, but simply abstaining from sex is not a viable option.

(persona by Yu luck from the Noun Project)

(persona by Yu luck from the Noun Project)

​Career-focused Carolyn
Career-focused Carolyn shattered the “glass ceiling” in achieving a level of success few of her female colleagues and peers have in her industry, which tends to defer heavily to male management. For Carolyn, that is just the beginning of what she intends to be a very long career full of success. She loves her job and always wants to go farther. She does not set limits on herself, and any limits those around her subject her to only fuels her fire to persist. She loves her life, loves her partner, and appreciates that contraception has allowed her to achieve professional success without unintended pregnancies.

Motivations: She’d love a family when she’s ready, but she’s not there right now.

Barriers: She wants access to more and better methods for men and women so that she can focus her attention on her professional pursuits.​

Juggling Jennifer
Juggling Jennifer is managing a delicate balance of career, kids and home. Any slip in that balance causes the house of cards to crash so trying to keep up with a daily birth control pill along with everything else is not an option. She is sympathetic to the lack of options for men, but is frustrated that she also has to figure out preventing pregnancy, in addition to everything else.

Motivations: She and her partner have achieved their ideal family size but he does not want a vasectomy.

Barriers: She has tried other methods of longer-term contraception but the side-effects were too much to handle.

(persona by Yu luck from the Noun Project)

(persona by Yu luck from the Noun Project)

Not Now Nadia
Not Now Nadia is the type of person who packs her bags days before a trip, and shows up at the airport hours in advance of her flight. She is most comfortable Gantt charting her way through life. Her plans include a family in the next five years, but there’s much to do before then.

Motivations: She doesn’t like what hormonal pills do to her body; she’d prefer a long-acting method for her that provides security so her plans stay on track.

Barriers: She’s open to more male methods conceptually, but is not sure she’s overly comfortable ceding that level of control to a partner.

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.

​OMG OB/GYN
OMG OB/GYN has had their fill with questions about male contraception. They understand to a certain extent why their female patients ask about it, but it blows their mind to see men scheduling appointments to see an Obstetrician/Gynecologist to find out information about contraceptives for sperm-producing reproductive biology. How should they know?!

Motivations: OB/GYNs empathize to the greatest degree possible, but really wish Urologists or other specialists in the male reproductive field would take the lead in addressing these questions and concerns.

Barriers: They understand men's frustrations and wish that there were more contraception options, but they’d be lying if they said their primary motivation was anything other than being left alone about a topic they know little about.

(persona by Yu luck from the Noun Project)

(persona by Yu luck from the Noun Project)

Regretful Reggie
Regretful Reggie always thought that he was being supportive by not interfering with his partner’s contraceptive choices. He thought that it was none of his business, so better to just go with whatever they decide, which included his wearing a condom when necessary. Only later in life did a partner help him to see the error of his ways; that he should’ve been a more supportive and empathetic partner by meaningfully engaging in family planning conversations.

Motivations: He doesn’t want another generation of young men to make the same mistakes he made, nor another generation of young women to feel like they’re on their own when it comes to family planning considerations.

Barriers: Shifting the way people think about and behave with respect to family planning and contraception will take a huge, systemic shift. Where to even begin, and what can one person reasonably accomplish?

Unplanned Ursula
Unplanned Ursula sees a direct correlation between the human population growth and all the troubles the world is facing: climate change, conflict, deforestation, species extinction, pollution, and on and on. It just makes such clear, obvious sense to her: there’s too many unplanned pregnancies.

Motivations: Empowering all people with the ability to manage their fertility and choose for themselves whether or when to have children is the objective, and the motivation in doing so is quite literally to save the world in her mind.

Barriers: It simply does not make sense to her that half of the human population lacks adequate resources to fully contribute to family planning objectives.

(persona by Yu luck from the Noun Project)

Meet the personas from other life stages:

learning

exploring

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.