Persona Development Discussion Guide
Overview The purpose of personas is to provide a reliable representation of your key audience segments for reference. The following questions and areas of discussion will help you construct a “picture” of the visitors to your site.
This is broad list of topics for discussion which may, of course, be added to or amended as your team or project needs. Consider these to be questions to be repeated as you discuss each user type.
For any given project, it is advisable to limit yourself to the main audiences for the site, and only 3 or 4 of them at best. The more personas you have the more granular the population you are working toward supporting. 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. Questions to Ask During Persona Development
- Define the Purpose/Vision for the Site
- What is the purpose of the site?
What are the goals of the site?
Describe the User
Personal
- What is the age of your person?
- What is the gender of your person?
- What is the highest level of education this person has received?
Professional
- How much work experience does your person have?
- What is your person’s professional background?
- Why will they come to the site? (User needs, interests, and goals)
- Where (or from whom) else is this person getting information about your issue or similar programs or services?
- When and where will users access the site? (User environment and context)
Technical
- What technological devices does your person use on a regular basis?
- What software and/or applications does your person use on a regular basis?
- Through what technological device does your user primarily access the web for information?
How much time does your person spend browsing the web every day?
User Motivation
What is your person motivated by?
- What are they looking for?
- What is your person looking to do?
- What are his needs?