A persona is an ideal user built from research, not a guess about one real person. Here are the three kinds and when to use each.
A persona represents an ideal user, an abstraction built from research on real users, complete with goals, perceptions and needs. It may share traits with people you interviewed, but it’s a synthesis of patterns, not a single real person. There are three types: proto-personas (assumption-based, when you lack research resources), marketing personas (data/behavior-based, for targeting and commercial projects), and design personas (interview-based, the true UX persona). For most UX projects, create between 2 and 10 personas, with about 5 usually enough.
Key takeaways
- A persona is an ideal user abstracted from research, not a catalogue of every real user.
- Three types: proto-personas, marketing personas, and design (UX) personas.
- Proto-personas use team assumptions when research is scarce, but must be validated later.
- Marketing personas define who to target; they don't tell you how to build the product.
- Design personas come from user interviews (ideally in context) and guide UX work; 2-10, ~5 is typical.
The three types of personas
| Type | How it's built and what it's for | Use when |
|---|---|---|
| Proto-persona | Built from the team’s collective assumptions when there’s no budget for real user research (brainstormed by ideally ~5 people). Better than pure designer subjectivity, but must be validated with later research. | Low resources |
| Marketing persona (buyer/customer) | Built from statistical behavior data, benchmarking and market research. Great for defining and targeting an audience, but it won’t tell you the product’s usability or what users expect. | Commercial targeting |
| Design persona (UX) | Built from personal interviews, ideally in the user’s natural environment, extracting patterns of emotion, perception, friction, desire and frustration, then synthesized into ideal users. | UX design |
A persona is an ideal entity constructed from research on real users, a synthesis of patterns, not a real person.
On what a persona actually is
How many, and a caution
Design personas come from observing and interviewing potential users in context, which yields richer data (even if people feel self-conscious being watched). You synthesize the patterns into a manageable set of ideal users, typically 2 to 10, with 5 enough for most projects. Personas are a method, not a full methodology, and even a basic grasp improves any project. A lack of resources is never a reason to skip personas entirely: persona-informed design (even proto-personas) reliably beats design based on the designer’s subjectivity alone. For the foundation, see the definition of UX.
An ideal user abstracted from research on real users, with goals, perceptions and needs. It’s a synthesis of patterns, not a single real person.
Proto-personas (assumption-based), marketing personas (data/behavior-based for targeting), and design personas (interview-based, the UX persona).
A preliminary persona built from a team’s collective assumptions when there’s no budget for user research. It should be validated with later research.
Usually between 2 and 10, with about 5 sufficient for most projects. They should be a manageable synthesis, not every possible user story.
Marketing personas define who to target using behavioral data; design personas, built from user interviews, reveal how to design the product and what users expect.
Want personas built on real research, not guesses? Talk to Dorve.
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