No. 189 · Strategy · Sociology
Personas
You design better for people when you picture a specific person rather than “users”.
In the Almanac
“Alan Cooper’s Kathy”, 1983–1999 · “Mailchimp”, 2010s
Both stories in full, three ways to use it and where it misleads.
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Questions
What is Personas?
Personas are fictional but research-based characters that represent distinct groups of users, such as Mailchimp's solopreneur versus its mid-market marketing team. They turn an abstract 'user' into a person with goals and pain points, making trade-offs explicit and keeping decisions grounded in real needs.
How do you use Personas?
When designing a product, writing, or planning a service, ask which persona it serves and what they need. Creating personas also builds empathy for others' perspectives. You can even sketch a persona of your ideal self to clarify goals and the steps to reach them.
When does Personas matter?
Personas is one of the 56 mental models for strategy, the situations where you ask: How do I win when others want the same thing? Within that, it belongs to “Winning customers”, alongside Adverse Selection, Apostle Model and Churn.
What is an example of Personas?
Two stories show it at work: Alan Cooper’s Kathy (1983–1999) and Mailchimp (2010s). Both are told in full in The Mental Models Daily Almanac, which has two stories for each of its 365 models.
Which mental models are related to Personas?
Theory of Mind, Tendency to Stereotype and Jobs to be Done. Personas itself comes from sociology.