User Persona Craft

Good Personas vs Bad Personas

Bad (Persona Theater)

'Meet Sarah, 32, lives in Brooklyn, likes yoga and avocado toast, uses an iPhone 15...' This tells you nothing about how to design the product.

Good (Behavior-Based)

'Power Organizer: Uses the product daily, creates 5+ projects per week, invites team members frequently. Primary motivation: reducing the number of tools. Key frustration: slow bulk operations.'

Building Personas

1. Interview 8-12 users (minimum)
2. Identify behavioral patterns (not demographics)
3. Group by behavior similarity
4. Name each group descriptively (not with fake names)
5. Include: goals, frustrations, current tools, key behaviors
6. Exclude: demographics that don't affect product decisions