2. Definition
“A persona is a way to model, summarize and
communicate research about people who have
been observed or researched in some way.”
Social Media & Web Design Elizabeth Buttiglieri, Eunice Estimar, Tyler Brown, Maggie Farese
https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2014/08/a-closer-look-at-personas-part-1/
3. History
● Developed by Alan Cooper in the 1980’s
○ Computer programmer/software designer
○ While developing a project called Plan*It:
■ Conducted interviews in his target demographic
■ Method acted as the interviewees
○ Officially used “personas” when he switched from creating
software to consulting
Alan Cooper
https://www.cooper.com/journal/2008/05/the_origin_of_personas/
Social Media & Web Design Elizabeth Buttiglieri, Eunice Estimar, Tyler Brown, Maggie Farese
4. Alan Cooper and the Goal-Directed Design Process
● Alan Cooper: Advocates 5 significant changes to the conventional methods of
software development
○ Step 4: Define one specific user for your product → invent a persona → give that user a name and an
environment + derive their goals
http://www.dubberly.com/articles/alan-cooper-and-the-goal-directed-design-process.html Graphic by Eunice Estimar
Social Media & Web Design Elizabeth Buttiglieri, Eunice Estimar, Tyler Brown, Maggie Farese
5. Goal-Directed Design
● End goal(s) → Persona’s objective
○ Fulfilled by product
● Scenario(s) → narrative written from Persona’s
perspective that describes how it would interact
with the product/service to achieve their goal
http://www.dubberly.com/articles/alan-cooper-and-the-goal-directed-design-process.html Graphic by Elizabeth Buttiglieri
Social Media & Web Design Elizabeth Buttiglieri, Eunice Estimar, Tyler Brown, Maggie Farese
6. Questions to Ask
“What do people desire?”
http://www.dubberly.com/articles/alan-cooper-and-the-goal-directed-design-process.html
Social Media & Web Design Elizabeth Buttiglieri, Eunice Estimar, Tyler Brown, Maggie Farese
7. Questions to Ask
“Of the things people desire,
what will sustain a business?”
http://www.dubberly.com/articles/alan-cooper-and-the-goal-directed-design-process.html
Social Media & Web Design Elizabeth Buttiglieri, Eunice Estimar, Tyler Brown, Maggie Farese
8. Questions to Ask
“Of the things people desire that will also
sustain a business, what can we build?”
http://www.dubberly.com/articles/alan-cooper-and-the-goal-directed-design-process.html
Social Media & Web Design Elizabeth Buttiglieri, Eunice Estimar, Tyler Brown, Maggie Farese
9. How to Create a Persona
Identify Your Users
Decide What To Ask
Get Access To Users
Gain An Understanding Of Users
https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2014/08/a-closer-look-at-personas-part- Graphic by Maggie Farese
Social Media & Web Design Elizabeth Buttiglieri, Eunice Estimar, Tyler Brown, Maggie Farese
10. How to Create a Persona
Analyze The Data
Synthesize A Model Of Users
Produce A Document For Others
Socialize The Personas
https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2014/08/a-closer-look-at-personas-part- Graphic by Tyler Brown
Social Media & Web Design Elizabeth Buttiglieri, Eunice Estimar, Tyler Brown, Maggie Farese
12. Example Persona
For a hypothetical
financial service:
Graphic by Elizabeth Buttiglieri
Social Media & Web Design Elizabeth Buttiglieri, Eunice Estimar, Tyler Brown, Maggie Farese
13. Why Use Personas?
● Develop focus
● Build empathy
● Make/defend decisions
● Communication
● Measure effectiveness
*Personas can be misused
Graphic by Elizabeth Buttiglieri
Social Media & Web Design Elizabeth Buttiglieri, Eunice Estimar, Tyler Brown, Maggie Farese
14. Thank You
Social Media & Web Design Elizabeth Buttiglieri, Eunice Estimar, Tyler Brown, Maggie Farese
Editor's Notes
Cooper: “We print out copies of the cast of characters and distribute it at every meeting… Until the user is precisely defined, the programmer can always imagine that he is the user.”
Visual derived from https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2014/08/a-closer-look-at-personas-part-1/