How to Create Personas: Three Persona Creation Methodologies with Implications for Practical Employment

Abstract

<p>Background: Personas are a technique for enhanced understanding of users and customers to improve the user-centered design of systems and products. Their creation can be categorized using three persona creation methodologies: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods. Despite the apparent differences in these methodologies, no previous review has systemically compared and contrasted the strengths and weaknesses of each of these methodologies for persona development.</p><p>Method: This manuscript maps and navigates persona literature to identify the benefits and challenges of these three persona creation methodologies. Furthermore, the strategies and opportunities of the different methodologies are presented.</p><p>Results: The results summarize the strengths and weaknesses of each of the three principal persona creation methodologies and offer suggestions of the benefits of their employment.</p><p>Conclusion: In conclusion, we offer insights into the construction and usage of personas for practitioners and researchers, and we propose a framework to determine which persona creation methodology is most suitable for a given context.<br></p>