Introduction
In today’s world where there is a lot of competition, product development is not just about developing what a company thinks the users need. Rather it is about developing what the actual users want. There has been more emphasis on frameworks like design thinking and user centric design etc. and there has been growing market needs for design thinking workshops and design thinking services and solutions.
While the industry is moving towards understanding more about the users and solving their problems, there comes a catch as to how do we categorise the user base because:
- A product can be used by multiple roles
- Different set of people look at the product in different ways
- Users come from varied backgrounds, geographies and goals
For Example, for a tech savvy delivery person, using a map is easier than for a person who does not understand how to use maps.
When this is the case, it is essential for any product teams to understand how to segregate the userbase and understand more about each type of user and create a solution that solves each user type’s problems. One effective way of achieving this is with the help of a concept called Personas. Creating a Persona in design thinking helps teams to understand and empathize with their users and help them always stay user centred from the ideation phase till the implementation. In this blog, we will try answering a few basic questions like:
- What is a Persona in Design Thinking?
- Why are personas used in Design Thinking?
- What are the different types of personas in design thinking?
- Benefits of using personas in design thinking
- Key elements to understand about a persona
- How does creating a persona helps in the design thinking process?
- What are some Persona design thinking examples?
What Is Persona In Design Thinking
A persona in design thinking is a character which is fictional and represents a set of users or customers. They are not real people but a representation of a group of users based on real data collected through user research and generally define the characteristics, behaviours, goals and traits.
Design Thinking Persona Examples: Let’s take the role of Delivery person in an amazon product. If we have to derive personas for this role, some of them can include:
- John – Representing set of delivery people who are relatively older in age and are not tech savvy
- Ganesh – Represents set of delivery people who may not know the routes in the city
- Grenger – Represents the set of delivery people who do part time delivery
Let’s also look at what are the key elements that makes a good persona:
- Name and Demographics – Basic details like age, occupation and location and background
- Goals and Needs – What does this user want to achieve with this product and what motivates them
- Challenges and Pain Points – How frustrated is the user with the product and what is causing it?
- Behavioral Patterns – How does the user make decisions, what is the lifestyle of the user, why and when does the user use the product?
- Quotes and Mindset – Words from the users captured during the interviews that talks about their mindset
Why Are Personas Used During Design Thinking?
The main purpose of using personas in design thinking is to understand the users problems in the real world and provide solutions which actually solves them. Personas represents actual user segments and gives details which are necessary to understand more about them like their demographic, challenges, behaviors and backgrounds. Below are a few points on how persona design thinking is useful:
- Understand user needs – Detailed information about the users and their goals along with their backgrounds help design team and stakeholders to understand more about who are using their solutions, how are they using and pain points which helps teams to provide a solution that is tailored and solves the actual problem without any assumptions
- Emphatize with users – Details like user behavior, pain points, background which are key elements of a persona helps designers and developers to step into their shoes which helps them build emotional connect with them and this helps in developing solutions that matters to them
- Help in design decisions – Teams can start building designs and solutions based on the details of a persona and this helps teams in designing the screens, navigation, button size etc according to them
- Creates Alignment within the team – Persona in design thinking helps in creating common consensus amongst all the members involved of the target user. This helps in everyone thinking about the same set of problems, pain points and challenges where everyone in the team can think about sharing their opinions and suggestions
- Helps in Prioritisation – Personas come with background and basic insights on their problems. This helps teams to focus on those pain points which when solved adds value to the users
- Scenario Building and Testing – Personas help in avoiding building and solving problems based on assumptions. They give us realistic scenarios and environments in which they use the product. This makes it easy for the quality team to test the solution in the context of actual users
What Are Different Types Of Personas In Design Thinking?
Now that we have understood what a persona in design thinking is, we must also understand the fact that not all personas are created at the start. Personas for a product keeps evolving or adding based on new markets, product extensions, features etc. Depending on the stage of the product and data available, there are various types of personas which are used which serve specific purposes. Some of the persona design thinking types include:
User Personas
- Primary Persona – The main personas who have major influence on the product. These personas are the main segment of users who are the core target audience.
- Secondary Persona – Segment of users who may not be the main focus while designing but whose experience is still important. They have different goals and needs with the product than the primary persona
- Negative or Exclusionary Personas – Representation of users who are clearly not the target audience who can help teams in avoiding designing the solution for these people
- Supplementary Personas – Personas who offer specific information about a niche user or edge cases that could affect the designs
Proto Personas
- Personas which are created in the early stages based on the team’s initial understanding, limited knowledge and without proper research
- These personas are further validated later with proper research and interviews
- Used ideally in the initial days of the product development
Example: We think our users are young professionals between 25-35, who value convenience and are tech savvy.
Qualitative Personas
- Personas which are created after enough, in depth research about the users with interviews, observations and focus group discussions.
- These personas focus on and have a lot of details like emotions, pain points, behaviors and motivations
- They can have words and narratives from the users like quotes, anecdotes etc
Example: Rhynaera is a busy mother of two, struggles to find time for online shopping and values fast and efficient delivery
Statistical/Quantitative Personas
- A data driven way of segregation of users. These personas are created based on large scale data of users like demography, surveys and analytics
- Focussed on measurable attributes like age, income, usage frequency etc
- These personas are useful while making data driven decisions
Example: John Snow is one of our 60% user set who is between age 20-25 and visit the website once in a day
Hybrid Personas
- Personas who are created with the help of both emotional, behavior focussed insights and the statistical data driven insights of a user segment
- Persona who need both details stories and trends/patterns from the user research
- These personas are used for both critical design decisions and strategic business decisions
Example: Manoj is a 40 year old working professional who spends about 1-2 hours on the product. He is unmarried and has a lot of time in his hands. And 50% of users like Manoj do not mind spending more than 4-5 steps for a transaction
Conclusion
Knowing the end users in detail has become a vital part of product development, because of changes in market dynamics and increased competition. For one use case there are about 4-5 products in the market. If an organisation does not keep the end user in mind while building a product and solve their problem, one of their competitors will acquire the market share. One best and straightforward solution for this is to keep their target users in the center of the product and build solutions around them.
One concept which will help organisations to do so is by using Persona design thinking. Personas which represent details of a segment of users help teams understand the motives, pain points, goals and needs of a set of users along with definition of their behavioural traits. These personas help teams empathise with the end user in specific environments with narrowed down insights and build solutions that add value to the users. There are several types of personas based on the stage of the product development. Each type of persona caters to specific needs of the team and can be derived with interviews, statistical trends and even a mix of both. These personas help teams align their solution building around specific user segments and help build better products for the businesses.
With this, our blog on “What Is Persona In Design Thinking? Understanding Your Users” comes to an end and we hope it helps our readers get some insights around the topic. Please do write to us at consult@benzne.com for further feedback. Check Benzne design thinking services and solutions for more details on our Design thinking consulting services.
Frequently Asked Questions About What Is Persona In Design Thinking?
1. What Is a Persona Object?
A persona Object is a fictional profile which represents a typical set of users in a product target audience. It consists of key elements and details like demographic details, needs, pain points, behaviors of a set of users which is derived with interviews, surveys, observations and also analytic trends. Persona Object helps teams in making design decisions and developing solutions which are aligned with real world user problems.
2. What Kind Of Data Is Used For Statistical Personas?
Statistical personas are created using data derived from a large user set. These data points are gathered through methods such as surveys, analytics and demographic research. Below are a few types of data that can be used for statistical persona creation
- Demographic information – Age, gender, occupation, income, educational level
- Behavior Data – Usage frequency, time spent on the product, purchasing pattern
- Psychographic data – User interest, lifestyle etc
3. Why Are Hybrid Personas Valuable?
Hybrid personas are made with both qualitative and quantitative data. Which can be used to design solutions which are both empathetic and data driven. With both emotional and statistical insights, hybrid personas help in getting a balanced view of user needs with strategic business objectives and can be used where both critical design decisions and data driven validation is needed.
4. How Often Should Personas Be Updated?
Personas are not a one time activity. They must be updated regularly to ensure relevancy of the product that is being developed. While the frequency of updates depends on nature of the product, market changes and availability of new data, persona profiles can be reviewed at every,
- When there is a major feature set introduced or major product extensions are released
- When there is a new set of user research data available
- Cadence based reviews like annual reviews/ bi yearly reviews
5. What Are Some Best Practices For Creating Personas?
Creating a persona helps in the design thinking process and requires patience and time investment. They need to accurately represent a segment of the actual target audience. Some of the best practices include,
- Gather date from diverse sources like interviews, surveys, analytics, user observations
- Avoid assuming and focus on real data of actual users
- Develop profiles with comprehensive details like name, demographics, pain points, goals, behaviors and capture as much information as possible
- Create unique and distinct personas for different segments to address diverse needs
- Ensure personas are not vague, and contains enough information that will help teams take the right design decisions in prioritising features
- Review and update personas regularly
