User Personas

User personas stop brands from speaking in generalities. When an audience is defined too broadly, messaging becomes vague, and design decisions lose focus. Personas turn abstract demographics into recognisable people with specific motivations, habits, and expectations. That makes it far easier to decide what to say, how to say it, and what the brand should prioritise. It’s the difference between talking at people and speaking to someone who actually recognises themselves in the brand.

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Take Spotify as an example. It isn’t designed for “everyone who listens to music”. It builds distinct experiences for listeners, creators, and those who enjoy discovering something new. At Confetti, persona development usually takes four to five days, and it directly informs positioning, tone of voice, and design direction. If you want to define who your brand should really be speaking to, the best next step is to book a quick call and work through it with our team.

Most brands work best when they focus on a small number of clearly defined personas. Trying to design for too many people at once usually leads to diluted messaging and safe decisions that don’t really resonate with anyone. In practice, one to three core personas are more than enough. This gives the brand enough range to grow, while still maintaining focus and consistency across communication, design, and experience.

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You can see this approach in how Nike operates; it basically prioritises serious athletes and everyday movers, rather than trying to speak to every possible sports user at once. At Confetti, we typically define two to three strong personas over the course of a week, based on where the brand is today and where it wants to go next. A short call with our team is often the quickest way to decide what makes sense for your stage of growth and avoid overcomplicating the process.

A useful user persona goes far beyond age, income, or location. Those details matter, but they don’t explain why someone chooses one brand over another. We look at what motivates people, what holds them back, what triggers a purchase, and how they make decisions day to day. This includes lifestyle context, personal values, and the moments when a brand actually enters their consideration. That’s the information that shapes messaging, design choices, and how a brand shows up across touchpoints.

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You can see this clearly with Tesla. Its buyers aren’t defined only by higher income levels. They are driven by innovation, status, and a belief in future-focused thinking. At Confetti, building personas with this level of depth usually takes around a week, because surface details rarely lead to strong decisions. If you want to understand what truly drives your customers and how that should influence your brand, a strategy call is the best place to start that conversation properly.

User personas shape far more than messaging. They influence how a brand speaks, what it prioritises visually, and how it builds an emotional connection over time. When you know who you’re speaking to, decisions around tone, colour, typography, and even pacing become clearer and more intentional. Without personas, brands often default to what feels safe, which usually means sounding and looking like everyone else.

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A good example is Glossier. Its soft visuals and conversational tone weren’t stylistic choices made in isolation. They came directly from a deep understanding of a millennial-first audience that values honesty, approachability, and peer-to-peer language. At Confetti, personas are always defined before any tone of voice or design exploration begins, so creative decisions are rooted in real audience insight. If you want to see how your audience understanding can translate into stronger brand and design choices, booking a call with our team is the best way to connect those dots.

User personas should be created early, once there’s a clear understanding of the market and competitive landscape. This is the point where strategy starts to narrow from “what’s possible” to “what actually makes sense.” When personas come later in the process, brands often have to go back to decisions that were made on instinct rather than insight. Creating personas at the right moment helps us ensure that everything which follows, from positioning to design, is built with a specific audience in mind at all times.

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Brands like Netflix are a good reference here. Content, interface decisions, and even visual direction are shaped only after deep insight into viewer behaviour and preferences. At Confetti, personas are usually finalised in Week 1 to Week 2 of strategy work, once research has been synthesised, and priorities are clear. If the timing or sequence feels confusing, a short call with our team can help map out the right flow for your brand and avoid rework later on.