What Are Personas & Why Do We Use Them?
A persona is an extremely helpful tool in user experience research. They are typically fictional but represent a type of user that could interact with a product. The article, “User Personas: What Are They and Why They Matter in UX Design” explains, “The purpose of personas is to gather your findings and use them to define a realistic character that is likely to use your product.” When you put a face to your data, it helps to realize a user’s needs, experiences, goals, and frustrations. This information is key to user experience research. Each persona has its own backstory and goals when coming to use your product. If you have this information in mind, it helps to design for your users. You can think to yourself, “I know Persona A was looking to accomplish this goal when interacting with this product. How can I ensure that they do this successfully?” It is helpful to have multiple different types of personas to represent a wider portion of your target audience.
How Do I Make a Persona?
Personally, I think it all starts with a name. BUT I also think it is important to give your persona a realistic name. Try to stay away from Jane Doe and Johnny Appleseed, this can drive a wedge between you and your users. Create a name on your own or use a name generator to help you out. Once you have identified your persona’s name, put a face to the name. Use any picture that could represent that persona. Next, give them some demographics. I typically use age, occupation, location, and relationship. This provides a basic understanding of general user information.
Time to give your persona some personality! Are they more extroverted or introverted? Do they rely on their senses or intuition more? Do they rely on their thoughts or feelings more? Do they judge more or perceive more? When you have these factors identified, it is easier to understand the personality type of each persona.
It could also be helpful to include their expertise with technology if your product entails a technological aspect. Motivations and frustrations are also a big help down the line in your user experience research. Identifying these in the early stages will help you make design decisions down the line in your user experience and user interface design.
What are the Benefits of Using Personas?
There are many benefits that can result from developing personas for your project. Author, Patrick Faller explains, “A deep understanding of user behavior and needs makes it possible to define who a product is being created for and what is necessary or unnecessary for them from a user-centered point of view.” Personas almost force you to take specific user types into consideration when designing a product. It helps to enable you to put yourself in their shoes, understand their needs, and help them reach their goals. They could also help you make tough decisions by applying another individual’s experiences to the development of your product.
Consider all of the potential benefits that could result from creating personas of your own. Try it out and see what happens!
Sources:
https://xd.adobe.com/ideas/process/user-research/putting-personas-to-work-in-ux-design/
CRyder Design 
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