Personas and user-centered design: How can personas benefit product design processes?

This paper investigates personas, an alternative method for representing and communicating customer needs. By using a narrative, picture, and name, a persona provides product designers with a vivid representation of the design target. Numerous benefits of incorporating personas into product design approaches have been suggested, but the present literature fails to identify the most significant and universal advantages of persona use. By incorporating expert opinion through the use of Delphi methodology, this research first examines the benefits of incorporating personas into design processes. After gaining consensus on the perceived importance of the individual benefits, this paper then elaborates on the most significant benefits of persona use and needed future research on the personas method.

► We examine the individual benefits of including personas in design processes.
► The Delphi methodology is applied to capture expert opinion and gain consensus.
► The results provide substantiation for the suggested benefits of personas use.
► We illustrate how the results could provide a foundation for future research.