user persona
compound.compound. a detailed description of a fictional person who represents a specific group of people using a product. It helps designers and businesses understand the needs and goals of their real customers.
compound. a fictional profile representing a specific segment of a target audience, constructed from research data to guide design and marketing decisions. It typically includes demographic details, motivations, pain points, and behavioral patterns.
The design team created a user persona named 'Sarah' to represent busy parents.
Before starting the app redesign, we developed a user persona to ensure the new interface would meet the needs of elderly users.
By synthesizing qualitative interview data into a coherent user persona, the product manager was able to align the engineering team's priorities with actual customer frustrations.
A compound of the noun user and the Latin persona, meaning a mask or character. The specific application to software design was established by Alan Cooper in his 1999 book, The Inmates Are Running the Asylum.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Commonly used in UX (user experience) design, marketing, and product development contexts.
Last updated July 22, 2026