Persona building exercise
The idea here is to work with your colleagues to create a believable, “flesh and blood” person to represent your target audience.
The Exercise
A “persona” is much easier to identify with and will help you to empathise with real-world needs and problems. Work in a group to develop such a persona to represent the target group you want to work with and for.
Get together any research or intelligence you may have about the target group. What do your colleagues know about them? Use this information and your imagination to help you build a portrait.
Get creative and make a big poster with your ideas – use images, stories, anecdotes. Give your persona a name and a back-story.
Be playful – imagine what this person does, what they care about etc. More questions. All ideas are good – work together to create a believable character. Don’t worry if it feels as though you are stereotyping – you will have a chance to test out your assumptions.
Take at least 2 hours.
When you’ve finished, make a list of things you want to know more about. This is the basis of your research – or “verification” - plan. Keep adding to your persona as you learn more.
Tips & Hints
- Do name your persona, this is really important. Don’t skip it and do use it.
- Use the persona canvas and/ or the prompt questions we've suggested to help you.
- Once you've created a full portrait, be sure to think about what they think about your organisation
- What role could you play in their lives?