A persona is “a summary representation of the system’s intended users, often described as real people” (Brown, 2011, p. 34). In fact, personas are fairly easy to create.
What makes a good persona
- Represent a major user group for your website
- Express and focus on the major needs and expectations of the most important user groups
- Give a clear picture of the user's expectations and how they're likely to use the site
- Aid in uncovering universal features and functionality
- Describe real people with backgrounds, goals, and values
One thing to remember: personas aren't born from nothing. For them to be representative of your audience, you need to base them on surveys, market research, interviews, etc. (Brown, 2011). A good persona description is not a list of tasks or duties (“Personas 101,” 2011).
Also, don’t forget to limit yourself to the main audiences; only create three or four personas.
It is better to paint with a broad brush and meet the needs of the larger populations than try to meet the needs of everyone (Usability.gov, 2013).
Persona example
 Mark Cohen Director, Human Resources |
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Demographics
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Goal Mark is looking for different continuing study programs in order to train some employees. |
Environment Mark is mostly browsing websites from work on his laptop, but from time to time he takes his phone out when he get's bored on the commute. |