Personae

Personae

Personae is an incorrect spelling of the word Persona in English language, stemming from Latin where personae is actually the plural form of persona. While personae exists as a valid plural form in Latin, in modern English design context, the correct singular form is persona and the plural is personas. This common misspelling often occurs due to the classical Latin influence on academic and professional terminology. In the field of design, particularly in user experience (UX) design, interaction design, and service design, a persona refers to a detailed archetypal description of a user, representing a specific user group's needs, behaviors, and goals. These fictional characters are created based on real data and research to help designers better understand and empathize with their target users. The development of personas involves extensive user research, including interviews, surveys, and behavioral analysis, leading to the creation of comprehensive user profiles that guide design decisions. These profiles typically include demographic information, behavioral patterns, motivations, pain points, and goals. When presenting research findings or discussing multiple personas in design documentation, some practitioners incorrectly use personae instead of personas, perhaps attempting to sound more formal or academic. However, in contemporary design practice and documentation, including submissions to prestigious competitions such as the A' Design Award, the correct term personas should be used when referring to multiple user archetypes.

user experience design, interaction design, user research, design methodology, archetypal representation, behavioral analysis

— Louis Evans