Develop Personas

• What is a persona?
• How do we get information for a persona?
• What does a persona look like?
• What characteristics are included in a persona?
• How do we select a name and photo?
• What are the benefits of personas?

What is a persona?

A persona is a fictional person who represents a major user group for your site.

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How do we get information for a persona?

By analyzing what you learned about your users from user research, including:

• Contextual Interviews
• Individual Interviews
• Surveys (Online)
• Focus Groups
• Usability Testing

Using this information, you identify major user groups of your Web site. You then select the characteristics that are most representative of that group and turn them into a persona.

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What does a persona look like?

A persona typically includes a fictional name and characteristics that are consistent with one of the main user groups you have identified.

The following example is only a small portion of a larger persona developed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Economic Research Service (ERS).

USDA SENIOR MANAGER GATEKEEPERS Matthew Johnson Program Staff Director, USDA 51-years-old Married, 3 children, 1 grandchild Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics Comfortable using a computer, intermediate Internet user, with a T1 connection at work and dial-up at home Uses email extensively; uses the web about 1.5 hours a day for his work "Can you get me that staff analysis by Tuesday?" Matthew spends most of his time at work requesting and reviewing research reports, preparing memos and briefs for agency heads, and supervising staff efforts in food safety and inspection. Key Attributes Focused, goal-oriented Strong leadership role Concerned about maintaining quality across all output of program under direction

Persona developed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Economic Research Service (ERS).

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What characteristics are included in a persona?

A persona usually includes:

• a name and picture
• demographics (age, education, ethnicity, family status)
• job title and major responsibilities
• goals and tasks in relation to your site
• environment (physical, social, technological)
• a quote that sums up what matters most to the persona with relevance for your site

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How do we select a name and photo?

You make up the persona's name. Select one that resonates with the team as representing that user group. Be relevant and serious; humor usually is not appropriate here.

For a picture, you can buy or license stock photography, although a more casual photo often resonates more with development teams. Don't make it a picture of someone the team knows. Make sure you have permission for the photo that you use. You can tell that you have a good picture if the team sees it and says "Oh, yes, that would be Jim, the Press Guy" or "Oh, yes, that's just what I see when I think of Rebecca, the Program Officer."

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What are the benefits of personas?

Personas bring many benefits, including these:

• Users' goals and needs become a common point of focus for the team.
• The team can concentrate on designing for a manageable set of personas knowing that they represent the needs of many users.
• By always asking, "Would Jim use this?" the team can avoid the trap of building what users ask for rather than what they will actually use.
• Design efforts can be prioritized based on the personas.
• Disagreements over design decisions can be sorted out by referring back to the personas.
• Designs can be constantly evaluated against the personas, getting better designs into usability testing.

According to Forrester, many companies including Ford Motor Company, Microsoft, and Staples develop and use personas and they report many benefits from doing so, including:

• a better understanding of customers
• shorter design cycles
• improved product quality

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Next steps

In addition to developing personas, you should use your Task Analysis to Write Scenarios.

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