Persona, it sounds like personality, in many ways it is. You will find dozens of different definitions from countless user experience designers, marketers, and businessmen and women. So what is a persona exactly?
A persona is a representation of research that is collected based on a group of users who have similar behavioral patterns in their purchasing decisions, usage of technology and products, lifestyle choices, and so forth.
A persona helps UX designers research and predict what users are like and why they use their products and services. The research is conducted through interviews over a set time. This data is then collected and persona chart(s) are created. There are six major pieces to a person chart, however, you can add additional pieces according to the data you receive. The six pieces include, but not limited to:
- Demographic
- Behavior
- Motivation
- Influencers
- Environment
- Persona Family
In UX and UI FEEL/NEED, I compared the user experience and user interface of two similar theatre related websites, Broadway World and Playbill. Using the Playbill website, I created two personas charts after collecting data on users who are likely to use theatrical sites, such as Playbill.
Meet Ashley and Dylan. They are both extremely interested in the theatre world. Throughout this explanation I will go back and forth between Ashley and Dylan, using one or both to explain a section of a persona chart.
Demographics
This is probably the easiest piece to fill out when creating a persona chart. The information here is straight forward. It can include name, age, occupation, gender, education, and so on. For my two personas, all the basic information and a quote to help me understand my users motive to why they would use Playbill’s website. If you choose to add a quote, it is helpful to use something he or she said during the interview process.
Ashley’s Demographics 
Dylan’s Demographics
Behavior – Goals, and Journey
The best way to explain the behavior part is to ask: “what does the user want to achieve?” and “what is the user’s journey to accomplish their goal?” There are two parts to behavior, goal, and journey. Goals are what a given user wants to achieve, and their journey is how they accomplish that goal.
Looking at Ashley, her goals are to find out the grossing for each production, information about all productions (past, present, and future), and how she can receive cheaper theatre tickets. She accomplishes these goals by visiting social media and websites to find all the information she needs on production, this includes general information, grossing, and ticket information.
Motivation
For user experience designers the biggest question you ask clients is “what motivates you to use this product or service?” Their answer might be simple or complex. Whatever it might be user experience designer needs to know the answer. In-fact we not only need to know what motivates a user but what inhibits their actions and possible triggers.
When I look at what motivates Dylan to use the Playbill site for seeking to perform arts jobs, I see:
- The motivation factor is a possible addition to attend.
- Inhibiting factor is that the posting is seen by over a hundred thousand views.
- Possible Trigger is a paying job.
His motivation is high and the ability is easy.
Influencers
We have an infinite number of influencers in our lives, whether we know it or not. That is why in this section of the chart, you can and should record more than one. There are no right or wrong amount of influencers on a person’s actions and personality. Use as many as you received from your initial interview.
Let’s look at Ashley. Her influencers include her mother, media and friends. Similar to Ashley, Dylan is influenced by his parents and friends, as well as his teachers. These influencers lead both Ashley and Dylan to visit the Playbill site weekly.
Environment
Where is the user using the particular app or viewing the website? When looking at Ashley and Dylan you can see that they both use their phone, and laptop to access the Playbill site. The only difference is when and where they both use the site.
Ashley tends to use the site more on her phone to pass the time of travel or with friends having a conversation. While Dylan uses the site more on his laptop to pass the time of waiting for callbacks or performances to begin.
Persona Family
There are two parts to a persona family. Related persona and persona matrix. This is used to understand the relationship between all the personas that were created. Here you will see if any overlapping between the different personas, which is useful when looking at the overall persona chart.
As we look at the different personas that would use the Playbill site, we can see that the users range from student to professional and there is a large variety in annual income. Once each persona is placed on the matrix, it became clear that myself and students fall in the same area of low income with a common aspect of being in the art field.
Developing personas can be challenging. However, just like all things related to UX and UI design, a persona chart is never permanently finished. Designers are constantly updating the charts as new users emerge, and the old one disappears. Content and design structure updates as these new users and ideas emerge. As UX and UI designers, it’s important to use persona chats to help keep a website or app trending with the right design.
Check out both personas in their entirety
thinking out loud 