Flag

We stand with Ukraine and our team members from Ukraine. Here are ways you can help

Get exclusive access to thought-provoking articles, bonus podcast content, and cutting-edge whitepapers. Become a member of the UX Magazine community today!

Home ›› Behavioral Science ›› Understanding users by going beyond personas, demographics, and affinity groups

Understanding users by going beyond personas, demographics, and affinity groups

by Kate Matesic
4 min read
Share this post on
Tweet
Share
Post
Share
Email
Print

Save

LeadBannerBeyondPersonas

The pros and cons of the persona

Getting through the user research phase of a design project can seem daunting, but in reality it’s just the beginning. When you and your team get to reviewing and synthesizing your research, you’re getting ever closer to bringing your concept to life. Usually, one of the first steps post-research is to create personas.

Personas give you and your team an overview of a user or a group of users. They also outline high-level assumptions about your user’s preferences and their behaviour patterns.

Melissa

An example of a completed proto-persona highlighting motivators, behaviours, and needs for a single archetype. Leah Buhley, 2013, for Rosenfeld Media.

As a tool in a designer’s toolkit, personas nudge us to perceive a possible user’s situation with greater empathy. They also spark fresh thoughts about how a product or service could be used. For digital products, a focused, task-based persona can be crucial during these initial stages.

However, if your team’s aim is to understand what your users need, personas aren’t the most effective tool. Personas alone can’t reveal how users would behave, and the contexts where they might use your product or service.

Ideally, methodical user research results in many artifacts that inform your design team’s understanding of your users. Other research tools include: customer journey maps, service blueprints, empathy maps, emotional journeys, and user stories. A combination of these methods will often lead to the best results.

Personas are great for ‘humanizing’ users, and for painting a picture of individual experiences within an archetype. However, you shouldn’t rely on them to define what larger demographic or affinity groups—especially diverse ones—might want. In these cases, analyzing a larger dataset of behaviour patterns and contexts makes the most sense.

Understanding users on a behavioural and contextual level

The Jobs-to-be-done (JTBD) approach is a framework that focuses on how users “hire” those products and services that help them complete a task or meet a goal. JTBD frames all design requirements around how users functionally use a product or services. So instead of referencing static, presumptive, and homogenized demographic or affinity group descriptions that come with personas, you’re focused on outcomes a user wishes to achieve.

Here’s an example of framing a user need with JTBD for a digital task-management and note-taking product, like Notion or Evernote:

Job statement: The user’s key task, which they are hiring your product/service to accomplish
e.g. Keep my project notes organized when I’m on a tight deadline

Outcome statement: The user’s wants or expectations (outcomes) from using your product or service
e.g. Reduce the chances that I miss a deliverable for a project.

Since living, breathing humans are always changing their perceptions of their challenges, goals, and tools, it’s crucial to frame their needs in a fluid way, too.

Jobs-to-be-done is a perfect tool for this sort of framing, because it focuses on a user’s context and goals, rather than less-informative and generalized demographic or affinity group information.

Simply put: people are trying to solve a problem by using your product or service. Understanding what problem they’re trying to solve is far more effective than generalizing a non-task-centric group they may belong to. Knowing what they need to do is far more actionable information than assuming you know who they are by following a persona or archetype that can only hope to resemble who they may be.

Go deeper by mapping user stories, states, and contexts

Some other great frameworks to consider as you work to improve you and your team’s understanding of how people might want to use your product or service are user stories and user states and contexts.

map

A user states and contexts map visualizes all of the requirements and needs that users experience. Image from the Fluid project.

Moving from research to product and service refinement

Testing and refining all of the methodologies listed above will extend and deepen your understanding of your customers beyond the limitations of personas.

As you evolve your approach, patterns will emerge in your observations, and you will become adept at weaving them into design requirements.

Longer-term, you can expect to see significant benefits from this approach:
  • more effective design requirements,
  • better prototypes, and
  • better-informed design teams operating with more empathy after understanding the needs and outcomes of real users.

The path to effective service models and products is to deeply understand your user’s contexts and needs and the outcomes you can provide to meet those objectives. The tools and frameworks we’ve outlined here can leverage your user research into JTBD and user context maps, which will seamlessly direct you into more efficient product and development strategies.

post authorKate Matesic

Kate Matesic

Kate is a multidisciplinary designer, working across interaction design, user research, and service design to deliver inclusively-designed products and services.

User research, as well as a love for experimentation, drive Kate’s design process. She enjoys breaking down systems, and exploring tactics to improve experiences in unconventional ways. This work is all underpinned by human-centred principles and working laterally across disciplines.

You can follow Kate on Twitter @kate_matesic and find more product insights from her on Say Yeah’s Digital Insights blog.

Tweet
Share
Post
Share
Email
Print

Related Articles

How is AI really changing the way designers work, and what still depends on human skill? This honest take cuts through the hype to show where AI helps, where it falls short, and what great design still demands.

Article by Oleh Osadchyi
The Real Impact of AI on Designers’ Day-To-Day and Interfaces: What Still Matters
  • The article explores how AI is reshaping designers’ workflows, offering speed and support across research, implementation, and testing.
  • It argues that while AI is useful, it lacks depth and context — making human judgment, critical thinking, and user insight indispensable.
  • It emphasizes that core design principles remain unchanged, and designers must learn to integrate AI without losing their craft.
Share:The Real Impact of AI on Designers’ Day-To-Day and Interfaces: What Still Matters
9 min read

What if you could build software just by talking to your computer? Welcome to vibe coding, where code takes a back seat and the vibe leads.

Article by Jacquelyn Halpern
Vibe Coding: Is This How We’ll Build Software in the Future?
  • The article introduces vibe coding, using AI to turn natural language into working code, and shows how this approach lets non-coders build software quickly and independently.
  • The piece lists key tools enabling vibe coding, like Cursor, Claude, and Perplexity, and notes risks like security, overreliance on AI, and the need for human oversight.
Share:Vibe Coding: Is This How We’ll Build Software in the Future?
7 min read

Voice and immersive interfaces are no longer futuristic extras — they’re redefining how we shop, learn, and live. Is your product ready for this shift?

Article by Katre Pilvinski
Voice and Immersive Interfaces: Preparing Your Product for the Future of UX
  • The article shows that voice and immersive interfaces are becoming mainstream, not experimental.
  • It argues these technologies shine where traditional interfaces fail — in multitasking, accessibility, and spatial understanding.
  • The piece urges a voice-first mindset and a shift toward more natural, human-centered interactions.
Share:Voice and Immersive Interfaces: Preparing Your Product for the Future of UX
3 min read

Join the UX Magazine community!

Stay informed with exclusive content on the intersection of UX, AI agents, and agentic automation—essential reading for future-focused professionals.

Hello!

You're officially a member of the UX Magazine Community.
We're excited to have you with us!

Thank you!

To begin viewing member content, please verify your email.

Tell us about you. Enroll in the course.

    This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. Check our privacy policy and