What are some best practices for using personas in service design workshops and activities?

User research at the beginning, middle and end of the your design process shall be incorporated. Conducting interviews and survey methods pose as the primary contact to potential stakeholders. Observation and learning from existing research is another important method. Segment your audience based on recurring patterns into Behavioral, Demographic etc And humanize the Persona Profile by adding a sketch or a stock image supported by a quote, their motivations and behavior. Basic descriptions like name, gender etc. are added too. Validating your persona by consistent stakeholder review allows more accurate profiles. Moreover, personas can be enacted by the team and be passed on within each other so everyone is on the same page.

There's quite a lot of debate on whether personas are useful in today's service design process (for example can they cause biases). However, if you have personas that have been carefully made and are based on real data, I find them useful in eg. usability testing. Use them when recruiting participants to your end user tests to make sure you have representation for each profile.

In my views persona-based service provides personalized services to end users. This is essential as the end users today expect a seamless and personalized experience with minimal manual interventions. They want customized solutions to meet their specific requirements

Use data to inform the creation of your personas. The best personas are built through research with you audience, so look for opportunities to do that. Even a bit of "guerilla" style research can be very helpful to make sure your personas reflect your actual audience, rather than just your ideas about your audience.

The best opportunity to update personas is during various concept, usability tests. Thanks to the results of these studies, the project/product team can update what they have learned. It's also important in an agile approach, during sprint reviews and solution implementation, to check if our target group is reporting any comments or issues. It is necessary to monitor all complaints, problems, and feedback from customer support in order to update personas.

From a transversal perspective, it is vital to emphasize the value of avoiding stereotypes in character development and challenging traditional demographic segmentation with more meaningful criteria. Create 5-10 core personas representing representative market segments that are used throughout the organization, with additional personas “on the edge of the curve” to test ideas with extreme user cases. This approach ensures that personas are useful and memorable to the team, guiding the design process effectively.

One exercise for creatively using personas in workshops is to try role-playing. By having team members act out different personas, they can experience the service from different perspectives, gaining deeper and more granular insights. This approach goes beyond simply asking questions, making the process more immersive and interactive. It helps us truly understand the needs and pain points of each persona, leveraging empathy and creativity in finding solutions. Plus, it adds an element of fun to the workshop, keeping everyone engaged and energized!

Some other remarkable practices for using personas in service design workshops include data-driven creation, regular updates, team participation, creative application, and avoidance of stereotypes. It is critical to consider the dynamic nature of personas, the role of stakeholders, and the importance of challenging assumptions when developing meaningful and effective personas for service design activities.