User Persona - The Good, Bad & the Unknown
We as humans have an inherited trait to interact, analyze & judge other people. This has evolved with our species being the Social Animal. We meet people & construct relationships may be for a brief time or a lifetime. This helps us in knowing that person at a deeper level & form a judgement. We feel we know that person very well only to discover that the person has changed. These are frequent occurrences taking place which lead us to doubt our abilities to form an opinion. The problem is we fail to identify the difference in the person's nature in the moment vs as a whole.
A sweet person could be very angry in the moment while an angry one could be very sweet now.
So how would a person judge another or in this article's case, create User Personas ie. a mask of human traits mapped over our targeted set of Users? This is a key process forming the User Experience(UX) foundation for any product.
First, let's understand what a User Persona is?
To give a background, as we work on the initial UX phases of the product, we ask questions, research, create a strategy & finally lay our thoughts into action - Create User Personas.
A User Persona is a representation of the goals and behavior of a hypothesized group of users. In most cases, personas are synthesized from data collected from interviews with users (as per Wiki). We create these hypothetical characters on the basis of research done & present the following datasets per Persona:
- Full Name, Gender & Age
- Relationship Status
- Biography & personality
- Frustrations
- Needs & Requirements
- Preferred Brands(optional)
The collected data is then created into a set of Unique User Personas which widely cover all targeted set of users. Though, this process comes with its share of pros & cons.
The Cost Advantage
A total count of 5 User Personas is great for covering 80% requirements/ problems leaving no room for vague assumptions. The persona-traits are used in decision making through each product process laying the foundation for Task Flows & User Journey Mapping. There is a huge cost implication involved to onboard all targeted users for the product taking up their time & effort. Personas Creation is cost-effective in user estimation as a whole.
It seems the battle has been won but we have just entered the Minefield.
The Hidden Caveat
User Personas are a figment of our imagination on the basis of research. We work hard to create user personas which at the end of the day are Fake people. Also, if a persona is initiated with limited data then there are triggers of a subconscious mind to add traits to the Persona as per his/ her experience. Another reason for User Persona fabrication is having limited time targets for multiple persona creation. It's more of a heart vs head battle. Finally, One should refrain from accepting a User Persona as the User. The Persona is just the mask.
If done well, it's a great estimation process even if the cons surpass the pros. At the end of the day, your complete UX process is built on empathy. User Persona creation process is just not about collecting data & framing characters but going out, talking to your users & seeking the truth at a deeper level.
Thank you!
