What is a Persona?
“The engaging perspective is rooted in the ability of stories to produce involvement and insight. Through an understanding of characters and stories, it is possible to create a vivid and realistic description of fictitious people. The purpose of the engaging perspective is to move from designers seeing the user as a stereotype with whom they are unable to identify and whose life they cannot envision, to designers actively involving themselves in the lives of the personas.”
— Lene Nielsen
Aurora Harley, User Experience specialist at the Nielsen Norman Group, explains that there are six common pieces of information that make up a persona:
- Name, age, gender, and an image of the persona, preferably including some context in the background
- A tag line, indicating what the persona does or considers relevant in his or her life
- The experience and relevant skills the persona has in the area of the product or service you will be developing
- Some context to indicate how he/she would interact with your product or service (e.g., the voluntariness of use, frequency of use, and preferred device)
- Any goals, attitudes, and concerns he/she would have when using your product or service
- Quotes or a brief scenario, that indicate the persona’s attitude toward the product or service you’re designing. If the persona already uses an existing product or service to meet his or her needs, you might describe the use of that here.
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A summary of user research presented in a fictional, composite person representing a group of real end users. A user persona helps project teams and stakeholders understand who the product is intended for, their primary tasks, and the contexts of product use.
When to use it
Develop user personas anytime you design products for use by other people.
How to use it
You can create provisional user personas before user research using your best guesses about user types. Revise your personas later using actual user research results. Revisit personas anytime you learn new info about people using your products and services.
Name and Role Invent a name for your fictional composite, and a real role for that type or group of users. Ensure names across your personas show diversity. | Comfort with Technology Move the dot on the spectrum to represent an approximate level of comfort using technology in general. |
Line of Business Represented Enter line of business name(s) here. | A Day in Her/His Life Translate persona goals into real-life typical tasks to create a day’s schedule. Include relevant offline tasks to provide context of use. |
Quotation Enter a first-person statement of purpose for this persona that represents their driving interest or need. | What We Can Do to Help Her/Him List possible approaches or strategies to solve this persona’s primary problems. |
Goals List the primary work goals of this type of user. | Photo and Caption Use a royalty-free, owned, or purchased photo to characterize the persona. Ensure photos across your personas show diversity. |
Pain Points List the primary problems this type of user encounters when using the product or service. | Uses Enterprise Services Increase or decrease the bar on the spectrum to represent an approximate frequency of usage of the identified HCQIS enterprise services. |
Needs Help Desk Move the dot on the spectrum to represent an approximate need for help when using the product or service. | |
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