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Storytelling

Using movie characters to create engaging personas: a new approach

Using movie characters to create engaging personas: a new approach

Using movie characters to create engaging personas: a new approach

Using movie characters to create engaging personas: a new approach

To gain a deeper understanding of Personas and reduce personal bias, we can match them with TV or movie characters that embody their key traits and characteristics.

Karla Silvas

Personas are a commonly used tool in user experience design, but there are differing opinions on their usefulness. Traditionally, Personas are built by conducting extensive research, which includes interviews and analysis, to create a profile of a potential user. This profile is then used to shape the product to better meet the needs of the target users. However, some UX researchers and designers argue that building Personas is a waste of time, as their validity can be undermined by personal biases and schemas.

From my perspective, I agree with both points of view. Persona profiles created through research provide a clearer perspective on who our users are and their motivations for using our product or service. However, when we empathize too much with Personas and their behaviours, we may start identifying with one or even more of them. This can lead us to think and design in a biased way, projecting our own motivations onto specific Persona profiles. Such bias is completely normal for humans, and it is part of our nature to feel the need to fit in.

Now, you might be wondering, “Is there a way to avoid this?” To be honest, I don’t know. But what has worked for me is matching existing personas with TV or movie characters.

To explain my rationale behind this technique, I’d like to provide a bit of background. When I was 16, I took theatre classes just for fun. Most people think of acting as simply memorizing scripts and performing them on stage or in front of a camera. However, this is only a small part of what learning to act truly entails.

Before memorizing a script for a performance, it is crucial to understand and empathize with the character you will be portraying. This involves comprehending the character’s personality and backstory, which the author has created to give them a life and purpose beyond the story.

In order to gain a deeper understanding of a character, my teacher (who has extensive experience in playwriting) conducted a character writing workshop in one of my classes. The workshop consisted of two tasks: drafting a short story and creating the background of the main character. We covered basic details such as the character’s full name, date of birth, age, gender, and occupation, as well as more complex topics such as their family background, friends, childhood, any traumas they may have experienced, personality type, motivations, and dreams.

Covering these topics helped us to build a person with a past and life experiences that would shape their present actions in the story we were going to write, just like in real life with real people.

Let’s visualize this with a profile of an existing character. This time, we will analyse the profile of Ron Weasley.

Ronald Bilius Weasley (aka Ron Weasley)

Full name: Ronald Bilius Weasley

Date of Birth: March 1st, 1980 (43 years old)

Nationality: English

Occupation: Auror (equivalent to a Police in the muggle world)

Salary: high as being Auror is considered a profession for high skilled people

Birthplace and Family Background: Ron was born in Ottery St Catchpole, a small village in Devon, England. He is the sixth of seven children of Arthur and Molly Weasley. The Weasley family is pure-blooded and has a long history of practicing magic. However, they are not wealthy and live a modest lifestyle.

Childhood Experiences: As a child, Ron experienced both the joys and challenges of growing up in a large family. He had to share a room with his brothers, and often felt overshadowed by his more accomplished siblings. Being the younger brother had an impact on his personality development, as he had to learn how to be resilient and assert himself to be noticed.

Impact of Being One of the Smaller Weasley Siblings: Being one of the smaller Weasley brothers had a significant impact on Ron’s personality development. He often felt overshadowed by his brothers’ achievements, which made him feel insecure and jealous. As a result, he developed a sarcastic sense of humor as a coping mechanism, and this became a defining aspect of his personality.

Growing up in a Middle-Low Class Family: Ron’s family’s modest lifestyle had an impact on his character. He was not accustomed to luxury or excess, which made him appreciate the simple things in life. He was also fiercely loyal to his family and friends, and was not easily swayed by material possessions.

Personality Traits: Ron is known for his loyalty, bravery, and sense of humor. He can be sarcastic and quick-witted, and often uses humor to cope with difficult situations. He struggles with feelings of insecurity and jealousy, particularly when it comes to Harry Potter, whom he sees as more talented and popular. Ron is fiercely loyal to his family and friends and is willing to risk his own safety to help them. He can be impulsive and sometimes acts before thinking things through. Ron also has a tendency to procrastinate and avoid responsibility, which can sometimes lead to problems.

Psychological Facts: Ron’s experiences in the series also offer some insight into his psychological makeup. He copes with stress through humor, sarcasm, and procrastination, and relies heavily on the support of his family and friends, particularly Harry and Hermione. Ron is willing to take risks and act impulsively when it comes to protecting those he cares about. Despite facing significant challenges in his life, Ron is emotionally resilient and is able to bounce back from setbacks to continue fighting for what he believes in.

Teenage Years and Adult Life: As a teenager, Ron continued to struggle with his insecurities and feelings of jealousy, particularly in relation to Harry. He also had a romantic relationship with Hermione, which added a new layer of complexity to his character. As an adult, Ron continued to support Harry and Hermione, and became a successful person, becoming an Auror and also a businessman, co-managing Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes, a joke shop he started with his brother George. He eventually married Hermione and had two children, Rose and Hugo.

As you can see, we have a complete character description here. It was created by a professional in the field who invested a lot of time in building Ron’s background. This information will help us understand any decisions or behaviours we see in the movies or read in the books.

Now, returning to the topic of Personas, we can leverage the work that a specialist has already done by giving us a character with a life and use it as a starting point to identify and empathize with a potential user.

Let’s imagine that we are working on a fintech company whose main goal is to make financial management accessible to everyone and provide tools and resources necessary for success. Our main target audiences are:

  • People who are beginning to manage their finances and want to build healthy financial habits.

  • People who struggle with budgeting or are unsure where their money is going each month.

  • Busy professionals who need a convenient and easy way to track their spending and manage their finances on-the-go.

And based on Ron’s psychological profile, we know that he:

  • Has a tendency to procrastinate and avoid responsibilities.

  • Has struggled with insecurity in the past, which may lead him to make uncertain financial decisions.

  • Has two sources of income.

  • Has children, which means additional expenses.

Given these factors, Ron could be a perfect fit for our second target audience. His tendency to avoid responsibilities and insecurity could lead him to make poor financial decisions, resulting in overspending each month.

Now that we know he is a match, we can use his profile to empathize and explore. For example:

Project 1:

Establish tone and language guidelines for users like Ron.

Movie Persona background: We know that he is known for his sense of humour, which he often uses to cope with difficult situations.

Exploration: As an app that manages finances, we know there will be moments when users feel stressed or anxious, especially when things are not going as expected. To avoid causing these negative feelings and leading users to abandon the app, we can use a friendly and casual tone. Additionally, when appropriate, we can add financial jokes to help build a strong relationship with users and give them a sense of security when things don’t go as planned.

Potential success metrics:

  • Increase the number of monthly active users (MAU).

  • Increase in adoption of new features.

  • Decrease the number of monthly dropped users.

Project 2:

Increase the volume of users who download and actively use the app.

Movie Persona background: Ron heavily relies on the support of his family, which means that he trusts them and finds motivation in them. Throughout the movies, we saw Hermione encourage Ron to take care of his responsibilities many times, and he followed through.

Exploration: HMW encourage users to take more responsibilities for their finances and proactively manage their money to achieve their finances goals?

And voilà! We already have a starting point for understanding the motivations of a potential user or even an existing one — a persona that fits Ron’s profile.


Final thoughts

This is not a magic trick that will help us think in an unbiased way when empathizing with our personas. However, I find it to be a good technique to remove myself from the persona profile, especially in situations where I am struggling to understand user motivations. It is also helpful when I begin to think things like, “I don’t like this” or “I prefer this” without any evidence to support my decision.

You might be wondering if it’s worth investing time, especially when creating a complete character profile. I’m here to tell you that it is! Fortunately, new technologies make this exercise easy and fast. The only question you need to ask yourself is, “Who from [any TV show or movie that you are familiar with] will use [the app, feature, or anything you are working on]?” For the rest, you can ask Gemini or ChatGPT ;)

"Please provide a complete character description of Ron Weasley from the Harry Potter series. Specifically, please include information about his birthplace, family background, childhood, experiences, the impact of being one of the smaller Weasley siblings on his personality development, and how growing up in a middle-low class family shaped his character. Additionally, please describe Ron’s personality traits, any notable psychological facts about the character, and his experiences during both his teenage years and adult life."

As you can see, we have a complete character description here. It was created by a professional in the field who invested a lot of time in building Ron’s background. This information will help us understand any decisions or behaviours we see in the movies or read in the books.

Now, returning to the topic of Personas, we can leverage the work that a specialist has already done by giving us a character with a life and use it as a starting point to identify and empathize with a potential user.

Let’s imagine that we are working on a fintech company whose main goal is to make financial management accessible to everyone and provide tools and resources necessary for success. Our main target audiences are:

  • People who are beginning to manage their finances and want to build healthy financial habits.

  • People who struggle with budgeting or are unsure where their money is going each month.

  • Busy professionals who need a convenient and easy way to track their spending and manage their finances on-the-go.

And based on Ron’s psychological profile, we know that he:

  • Has a tendency to procrastinate and avoid responsibilities.

  • Has struggled with insecurity in the past, which may lead him to make uncertain financial decisions.

  • Has two sources of income.

  • Has children, which means additional expenses.

Given these factors, Ron could be a perfect fit for our second target audience. His tendency to avoid responsibilities and insecurity could lead him to make poor financial decisions, resulting in overspending each month.

Now that we know he is a match, we can use his profile to empathize and explore. For example:

Project 1:

Establish tone and language guidelines for users like Ron.

Movie Persona background: We know that he is known for his sense of humour, which he often uses to cope with difficult situations.

Exploration: As an app that manages finances, we know there will be moments when users feel stressed or anxious, especially when things are not going as expected. To avoid causing these negative feelings and leading users to abandon the app, we can use a friendly and casual tone. Additionally, when appropriate, we can add financial jokes to help build a strong relationship with users and give them a sense of security when things don’t go as planned.

Potential success metrics:

  • Increase the number of monthly active users (MAU).

  • Increase in adoption of new features.

  • Decrease the number of monthly dropped users.

Project 2:

Increase the volume of users who download and actively use the app.

Movie Persona background: Ron heavily relies on the support of his family, which means that he trusts them and finds motivation in them. Throughout the movies, we saw Hermione encourage Ron to take care of his responsibilities many times, and he followed through.

Exploration: HMW encourage users to take more responsibilities for their finances and proactively manage their money to achieve their finances goals?

And voilà! We already have a starting point for understanding the motivations of a potential user or even an existing one — a persona that fits Ron’s profile.


Final thoughts

This is not a magic trick that will help us think in an unbiased way when empathizing with our personas. However, I find it to be a good technique to remove myself from the persona profile, especially in situations where I am struggling to understand user motivations. It is also helpful when I begin to think things like, “I don’t like this” or “I prefer this” without any evidence to support my decision.

You might be wondering if it’s worth investing time, especially when creating a complete character profile. I’m here to tell you that it is! Fortunately, new technologies make this exercise easy and fast. The only question you need to ask yourself is, “Who from [any TV show or movie that you are familiar with] will use [the app, feature, or anything you are working on]?” For the rest, you can ask Gemini or ChatGPT ;)

"Please provide a complete character description of Ron Weasley from the Harry Potter series. Specifically, please include information about his birthplace, family background, childhood, experiences, the impact of being one of the smaller Weasley siblings on his personality development, and how growing up in a middle-low class family shaped his character. Additionally, please describe Ron’s personality traits, any notable psychological facts about the character, and his experiences during both his teenage years and adult life."

As you can see, we have a complete character description here. It was created by a professional in the field who invested a lot of time in building Ron’s background. This information will help us understand any decisions or behaviours we see in the movies or read in the books.

Now, returning to the topic of Personas, we can leverage the work that a specialist has already done by giving us a character with a life and use it as a starting point to identify and empathize with a potential user.

Let’s imagine that we are working on a fintech company whose main goal is to make financial management accessible to everyone and provide tools and resources necessary for success. Our main target audiences are:

  • People who are beginning to manage their finances and want to build healthy financial habits.

  • People who struggle with budgeting or are unsure where their money is going each month.

  • Busy professionals who need a convenient and easy way to track their spending and manage their finances on-the-go.

And based on Ron’s psychological profile, we know that he:

  • Has a tendency to procrastinate and avoid responsibilities.

  • Has struggled with insecurity in the past, which may lead him to make uncertain financial decisions.

  • Has two sources of income.

  • Has children, which means additional expenses.

Given these factors, Ron could be a perfect fit for our second target audience. His tendency to avoid responsibilities and insecurity could lead him to make poor financial decisions, resulting in overspending each month.

Now that we know he is a match, we can use his profile to empathize and explore. For example:

Project 1:

Establish tone and language guidelines for users like Ron.

Movie Persona background: We know that he is known for his sense of humour, which he often uses to cope with difficult situations.

Exploration: As an app that manages finances, we know there will be moments when users feel stressed or anxious, especially when things are not going as expected. To avoid causing these negative feelings and leading users to abandon the app, we can use a friendly and casual tone. Additionally, when appropriate, we can add financial jokes to help build a strong relationship with users and give them a sense of security when things don’t go as planned.

Potential success metrics:

  • Increase the number of monthly active users (MAU).

  • Increase in adoption of new features.

  • Decrease the number of monthly dropped users.

Project 2:

Increase the volume of users who download and actively use the app.

Movie Persona background: Ron heavily relies on the support of his family, which means that he trusts them and finds motivation in them. Throughout the movies, we saw Hermione encourage Ron to take care of his responsibilities many times, and he followed through.

Exploration: HMW encourage users to take more responsibilities for their finances and proactively manage their money to achieve their finances goals?

And voilà! We already have a starting point for understanding the motivations of a potential user or even an existing one — a persona that fits Ron’s profile.


Final thoughts

This is not a magic trick that will help us think in an unbiased way when empathizing with our personas. However, I find it to be a good technique to remove myself from the persona profile, especially in situations where I am struggling to understand user motivations. It is also helpful when I begin to think things like, “I don’t like this” or “I prefer this” without any evidence to support my decision.

You might be wondering if it’s worth investing time, especially when creating a complete character profile. I’m here to tell you that it is! Fortunately, new technologies make this exercise easy and fast. The only question you need to ask yourself is, “Who from [any TV show or movie that you are familiar with] will use [the app, feature, or anything you are working on]?” For the rest, you can ask Gemini or ChatGPT ;)

"Please provide a complete character description of Ron Weasley from the Harry Potter series. Specifically, please include information about his birthplace, family background, childhood, experiences, the impact of being one of the smaller Weasley siblings on his personality development, and how growing up in a middle-low class family shaped his character. Additionally, please describe Ron’s personality traits, any notable psychological facts about the character, and his experiences during both his teenage years and adult life."

As you can see, we have a complete character description here. It was created by a professional in the field who invested a lot of time in building Ron’s background. This information will help us understand any decisions or behaviours we see in the movies or read in the books.

Now, returning to the topic of Personas, we can leverage the work that a specialist has already done by giving us a character with a life and use it as a starting point to identify and empathize with a potential user.

Let’s imagine that we are working on a fintech company whose main goal is to make financial management accessible to everyone and provide tools and resources necessary for success. Our main target audiences are:

  • People who are beginning to manage their finances and want to build healthy financial habits.

  • People who struggle with budgeting or are unsure where their money is going each month.

  • Busy professionals who need a convenient and easy way to track their spending and manage their finances on-the-go.

And based on Ron’s psychological profile, we know that he:

  • Has a tendency to procrastinate and avoid responsibilities.

  • Has struggled with insecurity in the past, which may lead him to make uncertain financial decisions.

  • Has two sources of income.

  • Has children, which means additional expenses.

Given these factors, Ron could be a perfect fit for our second target audience. His tendency to avoid responsibilities and insecurity could lead him to make poor financial decisions, resulting in overspending each month.

Now that we know he is a match, we can use his profile to empathize and explore. For example:

Project 1:

Establish tone and language guidelines for users like Ron.

Movie Persona background: We know that he is known for his sense of humour, which he often uses to cope with difficult situations.

Exploration: As an app that manages finances, we know there will be moments when users feel stressed or anxious, especially when things are not going as expected. To avoid causing these negative feelings and leading users to abandon the app, we can use a friendly and casual tone. Additionally, when appropriate, we can add financial jokes to help build a strong relationship with users and give them a sense of security when things don’t go as planned.

Potential success metrics:

  • Increase the number of monthly active users (MAU).

  • Increase in adoption of new features.

  • Decrease the number of monthly dropped users.

Project 2:

Increase the volume of users who download and actively use the app.

Movie Persona background: Ron heavily relies on the support of his family, which means that he trusts them and finds motivation in them. Throughout the movies, we saw Hermione encourage Ron to take care of his responsibilities many times, and he followed through.

Exploration: HMW encourage users to take more responsibilities for their finances and proactively manage their money to achieve their finances goals?

And voilà! We already have a starting point for understanding the motivations of a potential user or even an existing one — a persona that fits Ron’s profile.


Final thoughts

This is not a magic trick that will help us think in an unbiased way when empathizing with our personas. However, I find it to be a good technique to remove myself from the persona profile, especially in situations where I am struggling to understand user motivations. It is also helpful when I begin to think things like, “I don’t like this” or “I prefer this” without any evidence to support my decision.

You might be wondering if it’s worth investing time, especially when creating a complete character profile. I’m here to tell you that it is! Fortunately, new technologies make this exercise easy and fast. The only question you need to ask yourself is, “Who from [any TV show or movie that you are familiar with] will use [the app, feature, or anything you are working on]?” For the rest, you can ask Gemini or ChatGPT ;)

"Please provide a complete character description of Ron Weasley from the Harry Potter series. Specifically, please include information about his birthplace, family background, childhood, experiences, the impact of being one of the smaller Weasley siblings on his personality development, and how growing up in a middle-low class family shaped his character. Additionally, please describe Ron’s personality traits, any notable psychological facts about the character, and his experiences during both his teenage years and adult life."

As you can see, we have a complete character description here. It was created by a professional in the field who invested a lot of time in building Ron’s background. This information will help us understand any decisions or behaviours we see in the movies or read in the books.

Now, returning to the topic of Personas, we can leverage the work that a specialist has already done by giving us a character with a life and use it as a starting point to identify and empathize with a potential user.

Let’s imagine that we are working on a fintech company whose main goal is to make financial management accessible to everyone and provide tools and resources necessary for success. Our main target audiences are:

  • People who are beginning to manage their finances and want to build healthy financial habits.

  • People who struggle with budgeting or are unsure where their money is going each month.

  • Busy professionals who need a convenient and easy way to track their spending and manage their finances on-the-go.

And based on Ron’s psychological profile, we know that he:

  • Has a tendency to procrastinate and avoid responsibilities.

  • Has struggled with insecurity in the past, which may lead him to make uncertain financial decisions.

  • Has two sources of income.

  • Has children, which means additional expenses.

Given these factors, Ron could be a perfect fit for our second target audience. His tendency to avoid responsibilities and insecurity could lead him to make poor financial decisions, resulting in overspending each month.

Now that we know he is a match, we can use his profile to empathize and explore. For example:

Project 1:

Establish tone and language guidelines for users like Ron.

Movie Persona background: We know that he is known for his sense of humour, which he often uses to cope with difficult situations.

Exploration: As an app that manages finances, we know there will be moments when users feel stressed or anxious, especially when things are not going as expected. To avoid causing these negative feelings and leading users to abandon the app, we can use a friendly and casual tone. Additionally, when appropriate, we can add financial jokes to help build a strong relationship with users and give them a sense of security when things don’t go as planned.

Potential success metrics:

  • Increase the number of monthly active users (MAU).

  • Increase in adoption of new features.

  • Decrease the number of monthly dropped users.

Project 2:

Increase the volume of users who download and actively use the app.

Movie Persona background: Ron heavily relies on the support of his family, which means that he trusts them and finds motivation in them. Throughout the movies, we saw Hermione encourage Ron to take care of his responsibilities many times, and he followed through.

Exploration: HMW encourage users to take more responsibilities for their finances and proactively manage their money to achieve their finances goals?

And voilà! We already have a starting point for understanding the motivations of a potential user or even an existing one — a persona that fits Ron’s profile.


Final thoughts

This is not a magic trick that will help us think in an unbiased way when empathizing with our personas. However, I find it to be a good technique to remove myself from the persona profile, especially in situations where I am struggling to understand user motivations. It is also helpful when I begin to think things like, “I don’t like this” or “I prefer this” without any evidence to support my decision.

You might be wondering if it’s worth investing time, especially when creating a complete character profile. I’m here to tell you that it is! Fortunately, new technologies make this exercise easy and fast. The only question you need to ask yourself is, “Who from [any TV show or movie that you are familiar with] will use [the app, feature, or anything you are working on]?” For the rest, you can ask Gemini or ChatGPT ;)

"Please provide a complete character description of Ron Weasley from the Harry Potter series. Specifically, please include information about his birthplace, family background, childhood, experiences, the impact of being one of the smaller Weasley siblings on his personality development, and how growing up in a middle-low class family shaped his character. Additionally, please describe Ron’s personality traits, any notable psychological facts about the character, and his experiences during both his teenage years and adult life."

References

Here is an article I found from another designer who discusses his approach to using movie characters as personas.

John, T. A. (2019, December 17). Movie Character Persona: Food for Thought. UXShots. https://uxshots.in/2019/02/13/movie-character-persona-food-for-thought/

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