DesignByte: Persona Non Grata

This is the story of a senior UX researcher who builds the perfect persona to win over a stubborn steering committee. He’s warm. He’s helpful. He remembers your kid’s name. And a few weeks later, he starts leaving feedback in Slack.

What happens when your persona starts getting more buy-in than you do?

It’s that time of year again. Today, we’re stepping away from our usual interviews to bring you our annual Halloween audio drama.

This is the story of Dana Cole. A senior UX researcher with fifteen years of airtight, beautifully sourced research that nobody reads. So when her VP of Product asks for a persona that will finally make the steering committee feel something, Dana gives them Doug Whitaker.

Doug is a sales ops director from Naperville. He has a golden retriever named Biscuit. He gets your coffee order right without being asked. He’s the nicest guy in the room.

And Dana made up almost every word of him.

👻

Whether you’ve run a hundred research studies or you’ve just inherited a wall of personas from whoever had your job before you, this one should feel a little too familiar. It’s a story about personas, persuasion, and what happens when the most convincing voice in the building was never real to begin with.

So turn the lights down, grab your headphones, and give it a listen... If you dare!

Special thanks to our cast of characters:

• Voice Actor Extraordinaire, Amie Breedlove: amiebreedlove.com
• Actress and UX Designer, Stephanie Terrero: stephanieterrero.com
• Co-founder inflight.co, Tommy Geoco: designertom.io
• All-around swell guy, Hang Xu: thegistof.me/design
• Sound engineer, Derek Seibert: pillowfortpodcast.com

—

Thanks for listening!

We hope you dug today’s episode. If you liked what you heard, be sure to like and subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts! And if you really enjoyed today’s episode, why don’t you leave a five-star review? Or tell some friends! It will help us out a ton.

If you haven’t already, sign up for our email list. We won’t spam you. Pinky swear.

• ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Get a FREE audiobook AND support the show⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

• ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Support the show on Patreon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠• ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Check out show transcripts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

• ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Check out our website⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

• ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Subscribe on Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

• ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Subscribe on Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠• ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Subscribe on YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

• ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Subscribe on Stitcher⁠