What is a Persona?

Personas are fictional characters, which you create based upon your research in order to represent the different user types that might use your service, product, site, or brand in a similar way. Creating personas will help you to understand your users’ needs, experiences, behaviors, and goals.

Personas represent archetypes, not stereotypes. 

Creating personas can help you step out of yourself. It can help you to recognize that different people have different needs and expectations, and it can also help you to identify with the user you’re designing for. Personas make the design task at hand less complex, they guide your ideation processes, and they can help you to achieve the goal of creating a good user experience for your target user group.

Persona and Empathy Map Exercise

Step 1: Student Persona Sheet

Think about a representative student who may be taking your class and engaging with your site. Complete the Student Persona sheet to better understand who your students are how they learn.

Step 2: Empathy Map Canvas

Using the student persona you just created, fill in the Madlib to understand a need or goal of theirs. Brainstorm what that person says, thinks, feels, and does as they try to accomplish their goal. Consider where they will be at the start of their learning journey and where they will be in the end.

Step 3: Repeat for Outliers

When you’ve completed one persona, think about a non-typical student persona and complete the exercise once more.

Step 4: Share Out

When you’ve developed two personas, share what you’ve created for feedback and validation.