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A proto-persona is like a quick sketch done by hand, just an outline of a character without too much detail, but containing what is crucial: the characteristics of a particular person or object.
All this with minimal effort.
Just as no one will hire a professional painter when there is not enough budget, sometimes it is enough to please the eye with a simple, childish drawing.
This analogy in some ways applies to digital product design (product design).
A proto-persona is a simplified version of a persona that does not require the same amount of work or data analysis. While a persona is a fully developed representation of a user, requiring research, statistical and analytical data, a proto-persona is a kind of preliminary version, more economical to create.
A persona profile is a complete and validated compilation of information covering everything from demographics to product needs and goals to a person's age and interests.
See also Remote usability testing
With the information gathered, we can better understand who our customer is, allowing us to tailor a product or service to their needs. This is similar to a simple example outside the IT industry. If we discover that the majority of our customers in the grocery shop prefer animal welfare, we may decide to offer organic eggs instead of those from cages.
In particular, if we learn that our customers can afford more expensive eggs, we use this knowledge to meet their needs and increase sales. Just like a ready-made prospect, the information gathered helps us to respond to the customer's needs and tailor the offer to their expectations.
But what if we lack the funds or time to create a detailed persona? There may also be a situation where we feel that we do not always need a very detailed customer profile?
In such a situation, proto-persona can come to the rescue. It is created without a great deal of expense. Although it may not be a perfect representation of the user, it can still fulfil its purpose.
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We invite members of the management team and present them with the task of looking at the company from the customer's perspective. We explain that we will use proto-persons for this purpose. It is made clear that they are not complete, scientific customer profiles (personas), but that they are an important point of reference when developing an action strategy.
We gather a group of up to 12 people responsible for a specific product in one place and give them about 15 minutes to individually or in groups to create simplified person models, or proto-personas. We sit down with a sheet of paper and draw some simple columns, focusing on light management (lean management).
It is important that each column contains information about the demographics and the user's needs or goals in the context of the project. We visualise the client by adding a simple drawing, which makes it easier to understand.
Each of our created models is presented in turn in front of the rest of the team; we read the proto-person descriptions and place our cards on the board.
This is a key moment, as it allows us to receive feedback and feedback from the rest of the team on what they think best reflects the actual user experience and what needs improvement. We make the necessary adjustments on an ongoing basis.
The next step will be to assign each proto-persona to five different areas, such as seniority of product use or loyalty to the company. We place these areas on the board.
Then, as a team, we proceed to evaluate the proto-person. This could include an example of voting on a scale of 1 to 5 using cards. However, if the need for discussion arises, it is worth keeping it to a minimum.
The moderator has the task of assigning each proto-person to a specific group, based on its scope. The aim is to limit the collected 'profiles' to three to five, in order to leave only the most relevant ones over several days.
The next day we recommend taking the time to merge the proto-personas. Let's make sure we send it to the executive team beforehand so it is ready for the upcoming meeting.
During the discussion, we focus on the 'characters' we have created, paying attention not only to their fictionality but also to their actual user representation.
We analyse each proto-person and make adjustments on an ongoing basis. We continue this process until everyone agrees that we have a set of adequate proto-persons.
The next step is the design stage. Team members are encouraged to actively participate in brainstorming, drawing and exchanging opinions themselves.
In this way, the best design ideas are selected through a vote, which will enable us to move on to the prototyping stage.
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