A persona turns research about users into a relatable profile that can help a team make design and marketing decisions. This lesson introduces what personas are, what information they contain, and how the concept developed.
A persona is a semi-fictional representation of a typical user or customer segment. It is based on evidence about people, then presented as a coherent character to make patterns easier for a team to understand and discuss. Personas are also called user personas, customer personas, buyer personas, or, in some contexts, pen portraits.
All flashcards
Proto-persona
A generative profile that makes a team's assumptions about target users visible; unlike a research-based persona, it is not grounded in customer data.
Why do personas provide a shared reference point?
They give team members a common account of user goals and context to use in design discussions.
Self-referential design
The tendency for designers or developers to project their own preferences and mental models onto a product.
Data-driven persona
A persona developed by analyzing numerical data to identify patterns such as clusters, components, or factors.
Hybrid persona
A persona that combines quantitative patterns with qualitative insights.
Quiz questions
How can personas help a product team make decisions?Answer: They provide a shared reference for considering user goals and context.
What did Alan Cooper recommend when designing software with personas?Answer: Design for one specific archetypal user at a time.
What does the term Elastic User describe in design work?Answer: Stakeholders redefining the user to support their preferred decisions.
How should the findings from Long's 2009 study of personas be interpreted?Answer: They are suggestive, but methodological limits prevent conclusive claims.
What do quantitative methods contribute to data-driven persona development?Answer: They identify patterns in numerical data that can outline user groups.