User personas and journey maps are two powerful tools for UX researchers to understand and communicate the needs, goals, and behaviors of their target users. In this article, you will learn how to create user personas and journey maps step by step, and how to use them to improve your UX design process.
User personas are fictional representations of your ideal users based on real data and insights. They help you to empathize with your users, to segment them into meaningful groups, and to tailor your design solutions to their specific needs and expectations. User personas typically include demographic information, motivations, pain points, goals, and scenarios of use.
I prefer archetypes over personas. Personas construct an illustrative person (E.g. Sally is 34 years old). Archetypes zero in on a need (e.g. convenience seeker). I find the latter more helpful than the former as a jumping off point for ideation and to evaluate existing products.
I too prefer Archetypes or User Profiles as less research savvy audience can get carried away focusing on demographics where as the focus should be understanding the different user needs and motivations that drive the use of your product or service. Building archetypes should be clear evidence based through qual and quant dara and not an internal gut-feel exercise. So although personas might be fictional the are still insight driven. When finalising User Profiles it is good to involve teams to get their buy-in and help teams to immerse with the different profiles. You can do that in a workshop setting putting up your initial profiles on a research wall and share and discuss data that you have collected.
I was just having a discussion about personas with a colleague this afternoon. The original intent of personas - to make the user as real as possible for development teams - might be outdated. With inclusivity and accessibility at the forefront of product design, providing specific demographic and worse stereotypical data points could be actively harmful to the products. I lean towards Jobs To Be Done in lieu of personas, but also like the archetype approach as a means of removing harmful demographic data.
User persona broke down for me is a person that uses that product or idea. Who they are, why they'd use it, when they'd use it, how they'd use it. Empathy is important with user personas because researching becomes easier. You can research more specifically and intentionally.
Journey maps are visualizations of the user's experience with your product or service across different touchpoints and stages. They help you to identify the user's needs, emotions, pain points, and opportunities for improvement at each step of their journey. Journey maps typically include the user's actions, thoughts, feelings, and goals, as well as the context, channels, and pain points of each interaction.
To create user personas, you need to conduct user research to gather data and insights about your target users. You can use various methods, such as interviews, surveys, observations, or analytics, depending on your research objectives and resources. Then, you need to analyze and synthesize the data to identify common patterns, themes, and characteristics among your users. You can use tools such as affinity diagrams, personas cards, or empathy maps to organize and visualize your findings. Finally, you need to create user personas based on the most relevant and representative user segments. You can use templates or tools such as Xtensio, Userforge, or Smaply to create user personas.
Creating user personas involves assessing user needs and use cases, recognizing that one size doesn't fit all. Pre-persona groundwork is vital for their effectiveness. Here are 5 strategic questions to shape our persona development: 1. How do personas align with our business goals? 2. Which user characteristics impact success most? 3. What market trends influence persona development? 4. Are new user segments emerging? 5. How can personas support long-term strategies? These questions guide us in developing personas that align with our objectives.
Mural is another great tool to help sort out user interview notes and eventually, create personas as well. It has many templates to chose from or draw inspiration from to build your own template.
To create journey maps, you need to define the scope and purpose of your journey mapping project. You need to decide who is the user persona you are mapping, what is the goal or scenario you are focusing on, and what are the stages and touchpoints of the journey. Then, you need to collect data and insights about the user's experience at each stage and touchpoint. You can use methods such as interviews, observations, or usability testing, as well as existing data sources such as analytics, feedback, or support tickets. Next, you need to analyze and synthesize the data to identify the user's needs, emotions, pain points, and opportunities for improvement at each stage and touchpoint. You can use tools such as journey map canvas, empathy map, or emotional curve to organize and visualize your findings. Finally, you need to create journey maps based on your analysis and synthesis. You can use templates or tools such as Miro, Smaply, or UXPressia to create journey maps.
To create well-rounded journey maps, ensure that you outline three distinct scenarios: one without the use of technology, another with the design challenge incorporated, and a third scenario where ideation and existing solutions are developed without stakeholder assistance.
User personas and journey maps are not only beneficial for UX research, but also for UX design and evaluation. You can use these tools to generate and prioritize design ideas based on the user's needs and goals, as well as validate and test design solutions with real users or user proxies. Additionally, user personas and journey maps can be used to communicate and collaborate with other stakeholders, such as developers, marketers, or managers. Ultimately, these tools can help measure and improve the user satisfaction and loyalty with your product or service.
Creating effective user personas and journey maps requires utilizing some tips and best practices. It's important to base your personas and maps on real data and insights, rather than assumptions or stereotypes. Additionally, involve your users and other stakeholders in the creation and validation of your user personas and journey maps. Keep the personas and maps simple, concise, and relevant to the project scope. It's also wise to update your user personas and journey maps regularly, reflecting any changes in user behavior or expectations. Finally, use storytelling and visualization techniques to make your user personas and journey maps engaging and memorable.
The good litmus test for journey maps is going backwards. Does the journey flow cohesively in a systematic manner backwards. Linguistics: Is it clear, cohestive and easy to understand when narrating the flow verbally backwards in your second language.
A colleague of mine attended the Grace Hopper conference where she attended and later shared an awesome set of persona tools designed to help eliminate gender bias in product design. GenderMag identifies clusters of "problem solving styles" that tend to align themselves across different gender identities and gives us some tools to help combat the biases we naturally tend towards.