Whether you’re a seasoned learning experience designer or starting your career, it’s critical to know the importance of using learner personas in your design process. If you’re like most learning designers, you probably think of yourself as a good judge of character. After all, you’ve known yourself your whole life, so you must have a good handle on what makes you tick. The same could be said when designing for learners. You may think you know who your learners are and what they need, but even the most intimate knowledge of your target audience can only take you so far. When designing learner-centered solutions, nothing beats using a learner persona as one of the many tools to guide your design process.

A learner persona is a fictional character representing a segment of your target audience. When developing learner personas, designers consider age, gender, education level, occupation, interests, and motivations. By creating vivid profiles of these archetypal users, you gain valuable insights into how learners might interact with a given product or service. More importantly, learner personas inform design decisions by providing context for specific learner needs and goals.

Designing for learners can be a daunting task. You must consider many variables from age and ability level to learning style and prior knowledge. It’s no wonder many designers feel overwhelmed when creating learning materials.

One size does not fit all, and every learner has their own unique set of needs, interests, and abilities. By creating learner personas, you can develop targeted teaching strategies that meet the needs of all types of learners. However, remember that learner personas are a tool, not doctrine. Use them as a starting point for developing learning strategies but not to rigidly define how learners are taught. Ultimately, the goal is to create an educational experience tailored to each learner’s needs.

When designing learning experiences, many designers need to follow the perceived rules to the letter. Why deviate from a proven formula? Nevertheless, in some cases, it can be beneficial to think outside the box, which is undoubtedly true of learner personas. While learner personas are valuable for understanding your audience, they should be treated as a tool rather than a mandate. Use them as guideposts for creating materials that meet the needs of your specific learners. By tailoring your approach to fit their unique needs, you can build genuinely meaningful instructional materials.

Like any tool, they should be used judiciously, lest you fall into a trap of always using them just because you can. When creating a persona, think about whether it will help you achieve your goal. If the answer is yes, then roll up your sleeves and build!

For a deeper dive into learner personas, join me at ATD TechKnowledge 2023 for the session Who Are You Training? Learner Persona Development, Design, and Implementation.