How does creating personas for marketing/design purposes differ from creating characters for fiction/drama, and how does one begin creating one?

I think one of the main differences is that for marketing/design purposes, you’re attempting to think of the typical member of the market, or the typical user. In fiction/drama, you’re attempting to create something particular – if typical, it will most likely be boring.

I’m an advertising/marketing guy from way back, and I’d love to try to answer your question, but it’s a pretty big topic to handle in a Fluther comment box. The best short answer I can think of is…you need to define the essence of personality for whatever or whoever the design is supposed to represent (used to be called USB—unique selling proposition) ... and then capture and magnify that in the design.

@Austinlad – Wouldn’t that be USP?

@Austinlad So you’re saying that, if I, for example, was creating a design that had to do with… I don’t know… cats, then the persona I create should be a cat lover or otherwise someone to whom the design would appeal most?

Yes, @iamthemob—USP. I was looking for a USB cable earlier and had those letters on my mind.

Not quite. In your example, you want to appeal to cat lovers (as opposed to dog lovers), so you’d create a design that personified the familiar qualities of a cat. Cute and cuddly, for example. Does that make sense?

If it’s an interactive design, then I think you have to imagine what the person this design is for would think like. What would they want to know? What different interests might they have?

So if it is a cat lover, you might think about how this person became a cat lover, and how many cats they’ve had, and what they’ve done with cats and what they’ve fed them. As many different things as you can think of. They you answer the questions to figure out what this person is like. Then you describe how they behave (based on what motivates them) in different situations. Then you imagine what they might do in the situation you are designing for them.

You are on the right track in that a persona is basically a character. It would be the characteristics of the person that would use your site. Your site may appeal to many different characters. Basically – what this person’s goals are and how they would interact with your site. For example, it may start as something like… Jenny – she is a 25 year old female that loves cats. She uses technology daily and is constantly texting with her friends.

And then fill in the story of how they might use the site you are designing.

Try googling “Sample Persona’s” I found a good sample on this site…
link: http://www.user.com/persona-example.htm

Your target audience for a product or service is not a single market segment; the nuances of product promotion is much more complex. It becomes easier to use product development research (who does the product appeal to and why) to create campaigns that, when tested, have the broadest appeal from a single campaign. The personas become invaluable in development, photo selection, media buys, etc.

Thank you everyone! @Shooter12 that link was very helpful. I think I get it now. :)