What is User Persona?

A User Persona is a fictional profile representing a segment of your users—their goals, frustrations, behaviors, and context. Not "Sarah, 28, likes coffee"—more like "Sarah, a freelance designer who switches between 5 tools daily and is frustrated by context-switching." Good personas are based on real user interviews, not assumptions. They help your team empathize with users and make better decisions.

When Should You Use This?

Create personas after talking to 10-20 real users and noticing patterns. Use them when making product decisions ("Would Sarah pay for this?"), writing copy, designing features, or prioritizing roadmaps. Update them as you learn more. Don't create personas based on guesses before talking to users—that's fiction, not insight.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• •Made-up personas—base them on real interviews, not stereotypes
• •Too demographic-focused—"28-year-old woman" matters less than "frustrated by X problem"
• •Too many personas—start with 1-2 primary personas, add more only if truly different
• •Personas as decoration—they should influence decisions, not sit in a deck
• •Never updating them—revisit every 6 months as your product and users evolve

Real-World Examples

• •Figma—"Design system manager at mid-size company, struggling to keep components in sync"
• •Notion—"Solo knowledge worker overwhelmed by 10 tools, wants one workspace"
• •Superhuman—"Executive with 300+ emails/day, email is their job"
• •Linear—"Engineering manager frustrated by slow, cluttered issue trackers"