Personas

In order to design the right experience, we need to understand “who” we are designing for and the differences between key types of users. This framework will provide guidance to the design team in creating solutions that address the specific needs, behaviors and pain points of your user groups.

Serving suggestion

2-5 personas
Minimum 2 researchers
Minimum 1 hour per persona

Pairs well with

Customer Journey Maps
Creative Brief

Recipes

Present insights & opportunities from research

Understand user behaviors, attitudes & needs

View recipes

Focus

How to do it:

Gather insights from research (primary and secondary).
Create or select a framework/template (What information will you include?).
Determine heuristics that will distinguish and define your personas.
Write narratives around each persona that includes attitudes, behaviors, distinctive characteristics and needs.
Be sure to include both emotional and rational needs, motivations and drivers.

Additional resources

Making Personas More Powerful: Details to Drive Strategic and Tactical Design – Boxes and Arrows

Tips on how to make sure your personas are bringing deep value to your product strategy and design decisions.

Personas: A Simple Introduction – Interaction Design Foundation

Personas are fictional characters, which you create based upon your research in order to represent the different user types that might use your service, product, site, or brand in a similar way.

Why Personas Fail – Nielsen Norman Group

Personas are useful tools for UX work, so why do they often fail? Find out what pitfalls cause personas to fail, and how to avoid and overcome them.

A Closer Look At Personas: What They Are And How They Work – Smashing Magazine