Editing Persona (section)

==In marketing and user experience design==
{{main|Persona (user experience)}}
Personas are used in marketing and advertising by creating a [[persona (user experience)|marketing persona]] that represents a group or segment of customers<ref>{{cite web |last=Rind |first=Bonnie |author-link=Bonnie Rind |title=The Power of the Persona |url=http://www.pragmaticmarketing.com/publications/magazine/5/4/the-power-of-the-persona |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090815120017/http://www.pragmaticmarketing.com/publications/magazine/5/4/the-power-of-the-persona |archive-date=15 Aug 2009 |access-date=May 5, 2009 |quote=The identification and application of personas improved Development’s efficiency and quality during the first development cycle in which they were used. In addition, the use of personas significantly improved corporate cohesiveness, focus and decision making at every level.}}</ref> so that the company can focus its efforts. For example, online advertising agencies can monitor pictures, browsing history and the ads people surfing the internet generally select or choose to click, and based on that data they tailor their merchandise to a targeted audience or better describe a customer segments using a data driven approach.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Jansen|first1=Bernard|last2=An|first2=Jisun|last3=Kwak|first3=Haewoon|last4=Salminen|first4=Joni|last5=Jung|first5=Soon-gyo|date=2017|title=Viewed by Too Many or Viewed Too Little: Using Information Dissemination for Audience Segmentation|url=http://www.bernardjjansen.com/uploads/2/4/1/8/24188166/jansen_viewing.pdf|journal=Association for Information Science and Technology Annual Meeting 2017 (ASIST2017)|pages=189–196}}</ref>

Personas are also used in [[user experience design]], known as user personas. [[Alan Cooper (software designer)|Alan Cooper]] introduced personas in his book, ''The Inmates Are Running the Asylum'' (1998). Cooper play-acted fictitious characters in order to help solve design questions.<ref>Alan Cooper: "[https://web.archive.org/web/20150118054429/http://www.cooper.com:80/journal/2003/08/the_origin_of_personas.html The origin of personas]". Cooper Journal, May 15, 2008.</ref> These personas need to be based on user research and can also be described in narrative form.<ref>Kim Goodwin: "[https://web.archive.org/web/20141013110926/http://www.cooper.com/journal/2002/11/getting_from_research_to_perso.html Getting from research to personas: harnessing the power of data]". Cooper Journal, May 15, 2008.</ref> Creating personas has become synonymous with creating a document, known as persona profile, instead of an "activity of empathetic role-play".<ref>Andrew Hinton: "[http://boxesandarrows.com/personas-and-the-role-of-design-documentation/ Personas and the Role of Design Documentation]." Boxes and Arrow, February 27th, 2008.</ref>