Create, maintain, and utilize personas throughout the UX design process

Personas are realistic representations of target users developed from real user research data. They help product teams align on key insights and encourage empathy, ensuring your work is user-centered. 

Learn to develop effective qualitative personas and integrate them into your design process to aid decision-making. 

Who Should Attend

  • Any UX practitioner with an interest in creating and using qualitative personas
  • UX practitioners who want to know why past personas failed

What You'll Learn

01 Understand the definition of personas
  • What personas are and why they work
  • How user profiles, demographics, and customer segmentation differ
  • See how personas create a common language about user needs and shift away from making assumptions about users
  • How many personas are needed
  • Understand the benefits of having personas and how they help your team
  • Explore common challenges teams encounter creating personas
  • Where personas fit into the product development process
02 Discover how to make personas work for you
  • How to utilize personas throughout the design process
  • Use personas to drive feature generation and definition 
  • Identify user needs, motivations, and attitudes important to your project 
  • Personas to plan and scope your product
  • Ideate  design ideas with user scenarios
  • Evaluate your own products and compare to competitors using personas
03 Create well-researched personas
  • Learn a systematic approach to persona creation 
  • Methods for user research and data collection
  • How to turn research data into useful personas
  • Creating lightweight personas when faced with limited time and resources
04 Establish support for your personas long into the future
  • A communication strategy that encourages your team to use personas and builds acceptance
  • Create supporting artifacts to promote personas 
  • Persona maintenance to keep your personas relevant
  • When to reuse or retire personas

This Course Includes

  • Examples of personas to deconstruct what works and doesn’t work, and why
  • Group activities analyzing user data to reinforce learning
  • Worksheets and templates for use in your own persona projects
     

Learn from Industry Experts

Why NN/g

What People Say About This Course

  • Seriously amazing & valuable course. I actually feel like after taking this course I can take what I learned and apply it to my job. This course was extremely valuable and I know I'll be able to make an impact on my company's goals.

    Amanda
    Jamf

  • Great course materials — I feel that I have come away with a better idea of how to create and use personas. As well as some enthusiastic plans for my team!

    Claire
    Into University Partnerships

  • I feel much, much more confident that I can create personas and more importantly, that I can help my organisation be more user-centered by using personas the right way.

    Maxime
    Cisco

  • Great refresher on Personas, even for seasoned researchers! Loved the practice applications — what's worked in other real-life projects, what doesn't. Great way to quickly learn from others. Loved the new and varied ideas, strategies.

    Helen
    Capital One

Related Courses

Frequently Asked Questions

How will I get the link to the Zoom meeting for the course?

60 minutes before your course begins, your link will be available when you log into your NN/g profile.

Can I watch a recording of the course?

Virtual courses are live events that extend throughout the day and include many periods of interactive exercises. The learning experience cannot be replicated by simply watching recordings after the event. We will not be making course recordings, and making your own recordings is not permitted.

Will I be able to network and get to know other participants?

You'll join a Slack community for both course-related discussion and networking with fellow participants. You'll also be able to use the Slack workspace before, during, and after the event to maintain your connections. You'll be invited to join the Slack community the week before the event starts.

What equipment will I need to participate in NN/g live online courses?

You'll be streaming video and audio to your computer, and also speaking with other participants. Make sure you have:

  • A laptop or desktop (using a tablet is not recommended)
  • A stable high-speed internet connection
  • Speakers or headphones
  • A microphone
  • A webcam
Do I really need a microphone and webcam?

White it's possible to attend our virtual courses without your own webcam or microphone, you will not be able to fully participate in learning activities. Many of our courses use hands-on practice as the primary way of learning design and research techniques. You'll learn more during these activities if you can fully participate, and your collaboration partners can see and hear you. We also recommend using headphones.

Do I have to download any software?

All courses use Zoom and Hightail, a file-sharing service. Some courses require the use of Google Drive apps or Miro. All tools are free to use and do not require you to create an account, but you should ensure your device permissions allow you to access these tools.

  • Zoom is a video conferencing service. Our meetings follow security best practices, including passwords and waiting rooms. We recommend installing the Zoom app, which is free. If you are not able to install the Zoom software, you can also join through Chrome web browser. Test your access to Zoom.
  • Hightail will be used to share downloadable course materials (such as PDF copies of presentation slides). Test your access to Hightail. (If your network blocks you from access Hightail, during the event our conference team will be able to assist you with alternative ways to receive your course materials.
  • Google Drive apps are used for collaborative learning activities. If you are not able to use Google Docs or Sheets, you will be able to download copies of the activity materials, but may not be able to fully participate in group work. Test your access to Google Docs.
  • Miro is an online whiteboarding tool and is used for collaborative learning activities in some courses. You can download the Miro app or open a Miro link in your browser.
Will my internet connection be fast enough?

You will need a stable internet connection with a minimum of 3 Mbps (up and down) in order o participate in 
NN/g virtual courses. Ideally, a faster connection speed of 25 Mbps download and 5Mbps upload is recommended to ensure HD video and audio quality. If you are using a WIFI network, disconnect all other devices from that network to improve the streaming quality. Check your internet connection speed.

Can I join from my phone or tablet?

We do not recommend attending our classes from a small-screen device. Although you will be able to connect to the meeting, it will be difficult to see the detailed examples shared during class. It will also be extremely difficult to participate in collaborative exercises which require typing and interactive documents.