Personas

User Personas are detailed documents that identifies user needs, which then calls for a great user experience within a project. As a designer it is important to identify users successfully, as it has a flow and effect to the entire project. These fictional users are representative of real users in the world, collecting details such as goals and behaviour of a group of users. In most cases user personas are synthesised data collated from interviews with users that capture the behaviour patterns, goals, skills, attitudes and the environment of context. With added fictional details to make the user somewhat realistic. For each product made their can be several user personas made, though only one should be the primary focus of the design.

Now a user persona usual entails the following information/structure: age, sex, occupation, hobbies, likes/dislikes, behavior patterns, goals, skills, attitudes and their environment (or context). Though it also captures the personalities of these users, the ultimate goal is to establish the mindset, desires and necessary tasks of your users. User personas help inform your project.

To develop a artifact persona, it is helpful to ask the following questions:

• If the interface were a person, what would she or he be like?
• How would you expect users to react when they first view the product?
• How would you describe this product to a friend?
• How is the product different from competitive products?
• Which celebrity (or car, movie, etc.) is the product most like? Least like? Why?