Crafting Your Unique Persona for a Design Portfolio
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Chapter 1: The Value of Personas in Design
Creating personas in design portfolios often sparks mixed feelings among designers. While they are typically utilized during business presentations, the reality is that many personas end up neglected after their creation. Designers and researchers conduct interviews with end users to gather insights into their needs and challenges, forming these personas. However, their intended purpose—to represent the user in design discussions—often fades away. Ultimately, personas should act as a guiding presence in design meetings, ensuring decisions align with user needs.
In essence, persona mapping serves as a vital tool for designers and stakeholders, helping them grasp the user's perspective and make informed product decisions. While developing my portfolio, I thought of adapting persona concepts to reflect my own motivations and interests. Since my potential hiring manager is likely a designer, customizing a traditional persona sheet to highlight my goals and preferences seemed like a smart approach.
Section 1.1: Personalizing My Persona
I acknowledge that representing myself as a collective persona might stir some debate, but I felt it was worth exploring. To ensure my portfolio remains relevant over time, I plan to significantly modify standard persona components. If you are crafting a persona sheet for a case study, the insights I share here may assist you in creating your own.
Subsection 1.1.1: Key Elements to Include
Demographics: Including a photo enhances visual interest, allowing for an artistic touch.
Name: Essential for reference during recruitment.
Age: This detail may be omitted, as it will inevitably change over time.
Work: I plan to exclude this, as recruiters are already searching for candidates in product design.
Location: This information can impact job opportunities, so I might hold off on sharing it until a personal interview.
Family: I'll retain this for logistical considerations.
Education: Although it may not carry significant weight in the design field, it is crucial for visa processes, especially for international roles.
Section 1.2: Focusing on Goals
Rather than highlighting pain points, I will frame this section around my objectives. While motivations and challenges are interconnected, it’s beneficial to separate them into distinct areas, as these will inform my decisions and personality.
Chapter 2: About Me
To replace the scenarios section, I will introduce an "About Me" card detailing my technical skills, design philosophy, and passion for design.
Preferences and Interests: Interviews often touch on recent books I've read and favorite apps. I will incorporate these elements into my persona sheet to provide hiring managers with deeper insights into my preferences.
Visual Design Process: I plan to showcase my design journey through two slides, illustrating the visual design process. The aim of this post is to share my thought process in creating this persona sheet while encouraging others to infuse their unique insights into theirs.
Final Composition with Adjusted Content:
Profile Picture: I chose a full-height image to enhance visibility, using the background to reflect my design approach. For text effects, I utilized Adobe Creative Cloud.
Favorite Apps: I enjoy using platforms like Spotify, Wise (formerly TransferWise), Notion, along with Gmail and LinkedIn.
Favorite Books: My literary collection is vast, but here are a few titles I find significant:
- Atomic Habits: A guide on the importance of systems over habits (by James Clear).
- Rocket Surgery Made Easy: A practical approach to usability testing (by Steve Krug).
- Creativity, Inc.: Insights into innovation and excellence at Pixar (by Edwin Catmull).
In conclusion, I hope this post has offered you valuable insights. While there's no obligation to adopt my approach, I invite you into my thought process for building these components for my portfolio. As I refine my persona block, I'm eager to explore what more I can incorporate or eliminate to better support hiring managers and teams, focusing on functional elements rather than superficial ones. Please share your thoughts and experiences!
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