Persona

/pɚˈsoʊ.nə/ · Noun · Development · Origin: 1999

Definitions

  1. A fictional but research-based archetype representing a key segment of users, complete with a name, demographics, goals, frustrations, and behavioral patterns used to guide design decisions.

    In plain English: A made-up character that represents a real type of user. Design teams create personas so everyone on the team is building for the same kind of person, not just guessing what people want.

    Example: "Meet Sarah, our power-user persona — she's a project manager who juggles twelve Slack channels and needs keyboard shortcuts for everything."

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