Prototype Persona
What is a Prototype Persona workshop?
This type of workshop is great when you need to predict who is using (or will use) your product and why, so you can start testing with the right people.
Creating personas helps you start thinking about who you are designing for, and why. Even if you are totally wrong about your predictions, a ‘proto-persona’ gets your assumptions about your user on paper. Differing from Empathy Map, this tactic gets you straight from problem mode to solution mode.
This tactic works well with Hypothesis Statement and Empathy Map beforehand to help you understand your target audience better. Your persona will evolve as you learn more about your user.
Prototype Persona Miro Template
How to run a Prototype Persona workshop
1. Explain each section of the persona template:
Give life to your persona with a rough sketch of their face, along with their name and role.
Write demographic information about your user’s behaviour. For example, they live in the countryside, so they are less likely to use ride-hailing apps.
Capture the user’s needs and frustrations with their current situation. Try and be specific about the pain points your product is trying to solve, or the opportunity you’re trying to address.
Either written or sketched, generate ideas for those needs. These ideas can also be used in your Hypothesis Statement.
2. Distribute paper and pens, and ask the group to individually create as many personas as you can using the template.
Origin: Alan Cooper, 1999
Not sure if this is the right approach for your team at the moment? Try a different tactic for understanding the problems and challenges you face. Or if you’re happy that you know what the next big challenge is for your team, try a framing tactic to help you articulate your problem, ready for solving.
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Prototype Persona is one of 54 workshop recipe cards inside the Workshop Tactics card deck.
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