There are countless considerations that go into the initial planning for a new website, but defining site visitors (or users) should be the first step.
What is a user persona?
In the digital world, creating a user persona allows companies to model and summarize their typical site visitors in order to synthesize site content and objectives to best fit that user’s needs.
Not every individual’s attributes will be captured in the model, but by forming distinct groups with like-minded characteristics, patterns emerge. Those patterns are then used to dive deeper into understanding the digital motivations and habits of the anticipated visitors.
Why are user personas important?
By creating personas, emotion and empathy become part of the project’s equation. At Celtic, this tool allows the digital team to design and develop with a specific group of people in mind, rather than the general public. User personas help build a cohesive strategy for everything from site structure and wire frames to content, tone and even color palette.
How are user personas created and who is involved?
Working in partnership with the client is the best way to uncover these unique user personas because they know their target audience and can provide insight on what type of online experiences users are expecting.
Making user personas the first step in the creation of a website lays the groundwork for successful design and development moving forward and engaging audiences.
