Creating Qualitative User Personas
Role: Senior Product Designer
Year: 2024-2025
Introduction
As part of the effort to increase the adoption of the Design System (DDS), it became essential to take a closer look at the users and recognize how different roles have distinct needs. Developers, designers, and product managers interact with DDS in unique ways.
A research revealed a critical insight: most product managers (PMs) at Dell were not aware of DDS. Since PMs hold significant influence over product roadmaps and team priorities, understanding this persona type was crucial to improving adoption.
At first, the Design System personas followed a broad approach, which risked overlooking key insights. To refine the understanding of our user, we expanded our research following best practices recommended by Nielsen Norman Group (NN/G) for creating Qualitative User Personas.
Setting the Goals
The primary goal was to engage with a larger and more diverse group of users across different roles. NN/G suggests interviewing up to 30 people; in the first research, the team had spoken to 15. This time, we increased our sample size and focused on developers and product managers to gain deeper insights.
By refining our personas, we aimed to:
Use insights to shape future DDS developments.
Understand user needs and behaviors.
Assess existing features and identify new opportunities.
Collecting Data
We adhered to the NN/G methodology for qualitative persona development, which included:
​
-
A survey: To identify potential interview participants and assess their familiarity with DDS.
-
Structured Interviews: Tailored scripts were created for designers, developers, and PMs to gather role-specific insights.
Analyzing the Results
Once the data was collected, we organized interview notes into three categories: designers, developers, and PMs. Each group was analyzed separately to ensure clarity.
We identified key themes such as:
-
Experience level with DDS.
-
Daily workflows and touchpoints.
-
Reasons for visiting the DDS website.
-
Frequency of DDS usage.
-
Support-seeking behaviors.
These topics were summarized into a structured table, helping to identify common patterns and eliminate irrelevant data points.
Visualizing the Personas
To make the insights more actionable and identify patterns, we assigned dimensions to categorize users based on their responses and behaviors observed during interviews. Users were represented visually, allowing us to group similar individuals and establish distinct personas.
Through this process, we identified clear patterns that shaped the final personas definitions.
Key Takeaways
-
Granular Approach Improves Insights: The biggest change from the 2022 personas was the segmentation by roles. Instead of a one-size-fits-all model, designers, developers, and PMs each had distinct personas.
-
PM Awareness Matters: Recognizing that PMs were largely unaware of DDS highlighted an opportunity to tailor outreach and engagement strategies for this group.
-
Data-Driven Refinement: Expanding our interview pool and following NNG’s recommendations ensured a more comprehensive and reliable understanding of our users.
-
Visual Mapping Helps Find Patterns: Representing user data visually enabled clearer persona identification and reduced bias in analysis.
By continually refining our research and adapting our approach, we ensure that DDS serves its users effectively, guiding future developments with user-centered insights.
Let's get in touch!
Contact me if you're looking for a product designer or just grab a (virtual) coffee and talk about design.