Abstract
During the past decade, personas in product design have received much attention from academicians and innovative companies, an interest that is part of a positive trend toward building user‐centric products. Personas provide designers with a user‐centric reference tool that depicts an ideal user. This tool allows designers to maintain focus on the ideal user as they explore and develop solutions. This chapter explores personas as a practical tool for design. It first defines personas, presenting practical descriptions and describing the underlying bases and common types. Then, the chapter explores the power of using personas during product development: during design, during development, and as a communication tool. This is followed by an overview of creating personas from ethnographic research. The chapter also presents examples from three areas during product development, to illustrate the application of personas. Finally, limitations of personas are considered.