It is important that the design team and the organisation deeply understand who the user of the design outcome will be. Design Thinking is human-centred, so the human perspective is very important for a successful outcome of the project. There may be more than one type of persona for your product/service. It may be necessary to create several if they have differing needs.
what is it
The Persona Map is a visual understanding of the target user/customer that will help your team understand what success for them will look like.
why is it important
Understanding the real needs and wants of the target user/customer is a critical element of design thinking. From a deep empathetic understanding come potential ideas and eventual solutions. The human elements are more important than the socio-economic profiles that are often used by marketing departments to target customers.
how to do it
- Start by brainstorming as a team who your target users are using post-it notes to capture individual suggestions, then discussing and grouping them. Choose which one or two that the team represents the user best to create a hypothetical typical person.
- Position the Project Success Factor Map on a wall space where the team can gather around it
- Bring your chosen persona to life by discussing, agreeing and fleshing out the chosen persona, use your collective imagination to create a rich character portrayal.
- Draw a picture, use a photo, or a cutting from a magazine or website to visually represent your persona.
- Give the Persona a realistic name
- Complete the About section of the Persona Map – what type of person is this? What personal characteristics do they have, are they single/married, do they have children, etc?
- Invent a quote they might use to describe the need/want that you think they have that you will solve for them
- Describe more about their life, their background, education, job title, and other key characteristics of the persona
- Identify what Goals the persona has in their life, and for the product/service you will provide
- Identify key motivational factors that will encourage the use of your product/service – what are their customer latent needs and desires?
- Complete the section on Behaviours – what do they do? Tell stories about their behaviour as it relates to your product/service? How do they communicate? What are their frustrations? Etc?
- Review the completed Persona to check it accurately describes your chosen target user/customer.
Links for further reading
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