Are Personas without Research Worthwhile?
According to Cooper Co., a leading user experience and service design consultancy based in San Francisco, a persona is a “representation of a user, typically based off user research and incorporating user goals, needs, and interests.” There are three main types of personas: marketing, proto, and design. Although each persona type functions differently, they all help designers and developers better understand the user’s behaviors, attitudes, needs, challenges, and motivations in purchasing or using the product. It’s an important step that gives the designer better insight into their target audience. Personally, even without research, I think it is crucial for designers not to skip over the creation of a persona.
So why create a persona if it is not informed by research? The reason is quite simple, having one cohesive persona developed, regardless of whether or not it is rooted in research, will help you, the designer or developer, better understand the “why.” Why should a user want to use the app or product? Keeping a consistent user persona in mind will allow you to develop a user story and then allow you to look at the product through a user centric perspective.
A proto persona is exactly that. As Cooper Co. mentions, “a proto-persona is used when there is no money or time to create true research — based personas.” You or whomever is creating the product can develop a persona based on personal research or an educated guess on who the audience is and what their needs might be. Having a proto-persona is worthwhile if that is all your time and or budget can afford you. This is because it will help you get into the mindset of your audience and create a more thorough final product. By having a story to refer to throughout the design process, it allows you to evaluate all of your design decisions through the lens of the “pretend” user / proto-persona.
As Brent Summers, the Development Director of Blink (A user expereince, research, and design agency) mentions in his Telepathy article, “Proto-personas are an excellent way to shift focus from the anticipated final-product to the end-user for whom we’re designing this <thing>. We rely on proto-personas to ensure alignment amongst our client stakeholders.” Summers also noted that his team creates multiple proto-personas based off of primary and secondary target audiences rooted in different archetypes. His team them will discuss which one or two is the most important type of client and why. Summers and his team value proto-personas even though they aren’t rooted in research because it allows them to become better partners with their clients through honestly, transparency, and understanding. “In order to create products worth using, you must understand the fundamental needs and goals of your target audience. Without a persona (even if it is pretend), it’s easier to lose sight of the specific goals of the consumers.”
Although proto-personas are rooted soley on assumptions of the stakeholders, I still believe that they are an important step in the the design process when there is no time or money for research. Relying on a proto-personas may not be ideal but it does help to ensure the product meets the client’s needs. Ideally, a proto-persona would be a benchmark or a starting point that is then further investigated through research. However, if research is out of the question, a proto-persona shouldn’t be out of the question.
“The value of a prototype is in the education it gives you, not in the code itself.” ~ Amari Cooper (source UX: Creating Proto-Personas)
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