Creating Personas
As UX designers, one of the most important things we can do to design a successful product is to develop a thorough, well-rounded understanding of our target customers. Personas are all about building empathy amongst your team. Great software gets made when the people who make it care about the people who use it. Personas provide a comprehensive view of your product's potential customers. It blends the who, what, and why of the person who uses the product.
When looking at the previous blog post comparing the usability of Target and Amazon, we can identify multiple personas for the potential Target shopper. In this case, however, I will develop personas for myself and a hypothetical woman, drawing on my own experience shopping at the stores and my knowledge of their target audiences.
The first persona I developed was for the hypothetical Target user, Jane Doe. Jane is a 33-year-old Guidance Counselor who makes $95,000. She has been married for Five Years and has two kids (a 4-year-old girl and a 2-year-old boy). Jane was (hypothetically) quoted as saying, “I need a place to do all my shopping at once. From baby food and diapers to groceries”. Jane wants a place where all her needs are met on an after-work trip before she picks up the kids from daycare. She also prioritizes the option of order pickup when she has to stay late for work events and her husband, John, has to do the shopping for the week. Target provides the opportunity to hit all the areas she needs, making the week less stressful for her and her family. This allows her to focus on her job better and be able to help her students through academic and personal Issues. Target also provides her with high motivation and relatively easy accessibility. Her influences can range from her kids and her husband to her students.
Following Jane’s Persona, I developed a persona for myself and my reasons for using Target. I am 24 and work a 9-5, Monday to Friday, as a Higher Education Admin while also attending school full-time. I still live at home with my parents, and my Weekends make up the majority of my free time. My thoughts about using Target are as follows: “I go to Target to know all my needs, from groceries to self-care and school supplies/ technology will be met”. I want to maximize my free time on weekends to spend it on hobbies I enjoy, seeing friends and family, and relaxing before another busy week begins, balancing school and work. Target allows me to place orders so I can quickly pick up what I need for the week and be on my way. Target also allows me to pick up on nights after work, starting at 5 pm. Target also provides me with strong motivation and relatively easy access. My influences can range from my job to my school schedule, and it's easier to pick up and order without having to rush through a store or wait in line, losing time I'd rather spend doing something that fulfills me.
Developing personas will enable successful product design, as you can build it around your target audience to ensure their needs are met.
See below for the full personas!
