The Persona Lifecycle : Keeping People in Mind Throughout Product Design

by John Pruitt, John Pruitt

The Persona Lifecycle is a field guide exclusively focused on interaction design's most popular new technique. The Persona Lifecycle addresses the "how" of creating effective personas and using those personas to design products that people love. It doesn’t just describe the value of personas; it offers detailed techniques and tools related to planning, creating, communicating, and using personas to create great product designs. Moreover, it provides rich examples, samples, and illustrations to imitate and model. Perhaps most importantly, it positions personas not as a panacea, but as a method used to complement other user-centered design (UCD) techniques including scenario-based design, cognitive walkthroughs and user testing. The authors developed the Persona Lifecycle model to communicate the value and practical application of personas to product design and development professionals. This book explores the complete lifecycle of personas, to guide the designer at each stage of product development. It includes a running case study with rich examples and samples that demonstrate how personas can be used in building a product end-to-end. It also presents recommended best practices in techniques, tools, and innovative methods and contains hundreds of relevant stories, commentary, opinions, and case studies from user experience professionals across a variety of domains and industries. This book will be a valuable resource for UCD professionals, including usability practitioners, interaction designers, technical writers, and program managers; programmers/developers who act as the interaction designers for software; and those professionals who work with developers and designers. Features * Presentation and discussion of the complete lifecycle of personas, to guide the designer at each stage of product development.* A running case study with rich examples and samples that demonstrate how personas can be used in building a product end-to-end. * Recommended best practices in techniques, tools, and innovative methods.* Hundreds of relevant stories, commentary, opinions, and case studies from user experience professionals across a variety of domains and industries.

Genres: Design, Business, Nonfiction, Usability, Anthropology, Reference

744 pages, Paperback

First published October 13, 2005

Reviews

[Jarrod Hyder · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was entirely too long for the information it contained. It is roughly 750 pages, but it could have been summed up in about 200 pages. Other than that, it does contain good information about creating and using a customer persona.

[Volkan Unsal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very thorough book about using personas at every stage of the design process to communicate user needs throughout the organization. Some of the things suggested in the book (like making cardboard cutouts of the personas and treating them like real people) are kind of goofy, but there are lots of great ideas here as well. It's a big book, but definitely worth your time.

[Tomi Ola · Rating 5 out of 5]

A long read but worth every second. Fantastic book.

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Comprehensive but felt very long. It might not be actually that long (I'd have to see a physical copy) but it started on the wrong foot when my Kindle told me it would take 15+ hours to read it. If you're going to do personas, this book will be perfect. I wasn't 100% convinced about personas (versus user stories, roles, job stories, and more) before reading and I don't know if my position has changed. A lot of the book feels geared towards large organisations. My project shifted in another phase, without properly defined personas, so the book felt tedious at this point. I ended up skimming the rest. I feel bad but last year I didn't meet my book goal because I refused to move onto a new book until I finished a bad one (The Great Game of Business).

[Sodeh Mohammadabadi · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a product designer deeply invested in user-centered methodologies, The Persona Lifecycle has been one of the most insightful and practical books I’ve read. Rather than treating personas as a one-time deliverable, Pruitt and Adlin convincingly position them as living, evolving tools that should guide product decisions from conception through launch and beyond.

The book offers a thorough framework that walks readers through every stage of persona development and integration, from initial research to executive buy-in, and from persona maintenance to post-launch iteration. What sets this book apart is its unapologetically pragmatic tone. It doesn’t romanticize personas; it contextualizes them within the messy realities of team dynamics, business constraints, and shifting product goals.

I particularly appreciated how the authors tackled the often-overlooked issues of internal adoption and organizational resistance. Their guidance on how to advocate for personas within cross-functional teams was not only realistic but refreshingly actionable.

That said, the book is dense and reads more like a manual than a typical design book. It’s not for those looking for inspiration or glossy visuals, it’s for practitioners who are ready to roll up their sleeves and operationalize empathy.

In a field full of buzzwords, The Persona Lifecycle stands out for its substance. Whether you’re new to personas or trying to refine your practice, this book is a powerful companion that helps bridge the gap between theory and execution.

[Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent guide and overview for all that is and could be involved in creating personas (user profiles) for web development projects.

[Mark Opalski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Step by step in great detail.