Persona Guide
This guide should be used with the methods outlined in the Developing Personas section of Chapter 5 Hypothesize Customer Pain.
Purpose
A persona turns abstract themes into a vivid, human character. It’s a fictional profile built from real data — a stand-in for the people you studied. Personas make patterns concrete so you can empathize with a person, not just a cluster of notes.
Steps
- Choose a theme
- Build one persona for each major theme that surfaced during clustering (unless one persona clearly covers several).
- Give them a name and face
- Assign a first name to make the persona memorable.
- Add a photo, sketch, or avatar — stock image is fine.
- Assign a first name to make the persona memorable.
- Sketch their context
- Include demographics only if they shape the pain.
- Add lifestyle and situational details from your research.
- Include demographics only if they shape the pain.
- Highlight pains and goals
- List the frustrations and frictions this persona faces.
- Note what they value or aspire to (to see what pains get in the way).
- List the frustrations and frictions this persona faces.
- Write a short narrative
- Create a “day in the life” paragraph in the persona’s voice.
- Draw directly from quotes and observations you collected.
- Create a “day in the life” paragraph in the persona’s voice.
Tips & Pitfalls
- Don’t stereotype. Build from data, not clichés.
- Don’t overload with demographics. Focus on the pains that cut across boundaries.
- Do evolve personas as you learn. They’re living tools, not static profiles.
Method Options
- Digital (recommended):
- Use Miro persona templates, Google Slides, or Canva to combine text and images.
- Keep personas shareable so the whole team can refer back to them easily.
- Use Miro persona templates, Google Slides, or Canva to combine text and images.
- Paper (quick brainstorm):
- If co-located, you can sketch a persona on a poster or flip chart with a hand-drawn image and bulleted pains.
- Snap a photo if you need a record, but move to digital if you plan to use the persona long-term.
- If co-located, you can sketch a persona on a poster or flip chart with a hand-drawn image and bulleted pains.
The key is not the medium but the clarity. A persona should feel like a real person you can imagine walking beside.
Why It Matters
Personas anchor empathy. It’s easier to reason about “Brooke, a 19-year-old college student who feels anxious on dark streets” than about “young women, ages 18–24.” Personas stop you from drifting into abstractions and keep you grounded in lived experiences.
See the Demo
In the Halo Alert demo, you’ll see how clustered themes became a persona that represents over a hundred college women. Brooke puts a human face on the patterns and makes their pains easier to imagine.