Data-Driven Personas
Data-driven personas are just what they sound like: they are personas that are built from, contain, and helpfully communicate the data you have about your customers and users. In the best of all worlds, every single element of your personas—from the photo you choose to the individual descriptions of goals, lifestyle, habits, and needs—should be traceable to the data sources you have.
Together, we’ll collect all the data sources you already have, process them collaboratively using some tried-and true methods, prioritized persona ‘skeletons,’ and them move on to creating richly described personas whose elements are directly tied back to your data sources.
Note that it might not be necessary to collect a log of new data to create good, data-driven personas. I’m a big believer in squeezing more value out of data you already have and free sources of data that surround us. Only after we take a look at what we have will we decide what kinds, and how much, additional data you’ll need to create successful personas.
Creating the personas is only the first step. The real magic comes when you put the personas to work (using the persona lifecycle methods) to analyze your current customer experience, create new customer experience strategies, and figure out which features will make the new customer experience come to life.
By the way…
There is a lot of white space in the design for these pages, and that's on purpose. The design reflects some key aspects of my 'brand', which I wanted to feel clear, open, and refreshing.