Personas Development

The challenge

We were in the early ideation phase of a contact management app. A few core features were already outlined, but we needed a clearer picture of who we were designing for.

Key problems to solve

• Define relevant and realistic target users
• Translate user needs into actionable product opportunities

Research

We want to create a contact management application that allows users to organize their contacts into groups. My research brought me to identifying some potential competitors like Contactbook or Google contacts.

Ideation phase

The application’s potential user base ranged from corporate employees managing department-specific contacts to solo professionals attending networking events. With this in mind, I created a diverse set of user personas reflecting different usage contexts:

• Corporate users needing structured contact hierarchies
• Recruiters and event organizers requiring quick access and contact tagging
• Individual users looking for lightweight event-based contact tracking

Each persona included key sections:

• Personal and professional background
• Goals and challenges
• Device preferences, helping inform whether to prioritize mobile, desktop, or both

Exploiting AI for this was a game changer: I used Copilot to assist with defining needs based on specific scenarios. I later placed each persona into a custom-designed template for clarity and reuse across product planning sessions. Here's some of the results:

Business admin persona

Reflections and learning

This project reinforced the value of personas in shaping a product vision, especially when the end-user landscape is broad or undefined. A few key takeaways:

• Personas sparked new feature ideas. For example, allowing users to send follow-ups to entire contact groups or share groups with colleagues.
• Cross-platform needs were evident. Many personas relied on mobile during events, but preferred desktop environments for deeper organization tasks.
• Creating realistic personas enhanced design empathy. Thinking through device use, pain points, and workflows led to more user-centered feature concepts.

Looking forward

These personas provide a solid foundation for defining and validating early product decisions. If this concept evolves, I’d like to:

• Test these personas against real users to refine assumptions and improve alignment with actual workflows
• Explore edge cases and niche users, such as event planners, artisans at local markets, or educators managing parent contacts
• Map personas to user journeys to better understand onboarding needs, retention opportunities, and key touchpoints

User personas remain one of the most valuable tools in early-stage product development. They not only clarify who we’re designing for, but also open up new directions for innovation.